Former Welsh rugby player Louis Rees-Zammit has obtained a contract to play American football for the Kansas City Chiefs, the winners of the last edition of the Super Bowl, the final of the main US championship of this sport. Rees-Zammit is 23 years old and as a rugby player he was considered one of the best talents of his generation: while he was preparing to play the Six Nations, one of the most important and prestigious international rugby tournaments, he had, however, announced that he wanted to try to join National Football League (Nfl), the main American football championship.
He was thus one of the 16 players to have participated in the International Player Pathway Program (IPPP), an American football training program reserved for non-American players, from which NFL teams can select the best players and sign them. In recent weeks, Rees-Zammit had attracted the attention of several teams around the league, including the New York Jets, Cleveland Browns and Denver Broncos. It seems that he will be able to play for the Kansas City Chiefs in a hybrid position, but still in an offensive role, both as a running back and as a receiver. In any case, to know if he will actually be part of it, we will have to wait until September, when the teams present their final lineup.
Although in some ways the two sports seem very similar, the transitions from rugby to football and vice versa are quite rare, although not entirely new. The choice of Rees-Zammit, however, was particularly risky, also because the IPPP does not give any guarantee to the players who participate in it that they will be chosen by NFL teams. However, he explained it with his personal passion for American football, which surpasses that for rugby. Contracts in American football are also much more lucrative.
Rees-Lightning has arrived ⚡
Help us officially welcome @LouisReesZammit to Chiefs Kingdom! pic.twitter.com/6d7S4XQMLp
— Kansas City Chiefs (@Chiefs) March 29, 2024
– Read also: Going from rugby to American football