If ever there was a time, if ever there was a spot, for Louis Rees-Zammit to chase his NFL dream, that is it. The previous Welsh rugby union star is reportedly nearing a deal to hitch the Kansas Metropolis Chiefs, the back-to-back Tremendous Bowl champions.
Rees-Zammit is prone to be a part of the staff for his or her annual coaching camp, a sort of prolonged trial as he learns the trials of the NFL. He’ll be a part of a 90-man coaching camp roster that may finally be whittled right down to 53, with 16 additional locations up for grabs on the observe squad, in impact a reserve staff. This season additionally marks the primary time that groups can have an additional spot out there on the observe squad carved out for gamers who’ve come by way of the league’s Worldwide Participant Pathway program. Because the IPP was launched, 37 worldwide gamers have signed with groups and 18 stay on rosters.
In different phrases, there’s nonetheless a protracted option to go for Rees-Zammit despite the fact that it is a promising begin. The transition from rugby to the NFL is fierce. The complexities of the positions and playbooks are robust for even among the finest faculty gamers to understand. And no franchise runs as refined a system because the Chiefs.
However there was information this week that ought to encourage those that imagine in Rees-Zammit and might be the minor miracle he wanted to construct a significant NFL profession. NFL house owners have agreed to a rule change that may overhaul the league’s kickoff process. In recent times, as a result of sport’s ongoing concussion disaster, the league adopted a neutered model of kickoffs, the very best probability for a participant to collect the ball and make a play within the open subject. To deal with harm issues, the league drafted guidelines that drastically diminished the variety of returns. Final season, solely 23% of kickoffs have been returned. The most recent change will rework that. The NFL is transferring to a brand new fashion that may see returns leap to between 60 and 90%, making the kickoff a weapon once more.
That is excellent news for Rees-Zammit, whose finest probability at making an NFL roster was as a kick returner on the particular staff unit. And returners at the moment are at a premium. Taking part in a conventional place, it might take time for the 23-year-old to collect the institutional data wanted to line up on Sundays. However being given 4 or so possibilities a sport to collect the ball, run and break tackles ought to come naturally to a proficient however uncooked participant just like the Welshman.
Franchises often take a big gamble on gamers coming by way of the worldwide program within the hope that they are going to turn out to be one thing sometime. With the roster exemptions, there are not any downsides. At finest, these gamers are considered as fringe prospects, usually elite athletes, who might be molded into roster-caliber gamers. Rees-Zammit’s worth is that he has upside at the moment.
With the brand new guidelines, groups shall be chasing a market inefficiency, searching for a participant on an inexpensive contract – Rees-Zammit would make $216,000 (£171,000) a season on a observe squad – who wouldn’t have made a roster underneath the outdated methods however who can now deliver juice to the return sport.
Rees-Zammit matches the invoice, although the percentages are nonetheless lengthy. Plug him into this yr’s NFL draft and his efficiency in drills that measure velocity, dimension and energy are within the backside 7% of large receiver prospects. At his Professional Day, the place staff scouts take a look at prospects, he clocked a superb dash time however didn’t match as much as even low-level draft prospects of the identical construct in different vital metrics. As a operating again, he’s too lanky and unfamiliar with the nuances that dictate whether or not a participant makes the sector or not.
However with the kickoff revamp, Rees-Zammit turns into much less of a long-term receiver or operating again mission and extra of an instantaneous specialist, tilting the percentages ever so barely that he might dangle on to a roster spot. Groups historically carried a return specialist on their roster on the understanding {that a} sudden jolt – a rating, an enormous breakaway – might shift momentum, spark a drive or tip the sport of their favor. Because the league started to legislate returns out of the video games, although, groups opted towards retaining a specialist, preferring to make use of a operating again, large receiver or defensive participant who might moonlight as a returner.
Now, that calculus is altering, with the revamped kickoff guidelines. By way of that prism, Rees-Zammit’s expertise make sense; he can shake away tackles and drive downhill relatively than having to take care of the intricacies of route operating or mastering move safety.
The timing is good – and the touchdown spot, if confirmed, is even higher. With Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reid, he’ll be working with the very best quarterback within the sport and the league’s most progressive coach. If anyone is keen to bend the norms, it’s Reid. At worst, Rees-Zammit will spend time round one of many best coach-quarterback duos within the league, working in probably the most cutting-edge offense within the sport. For a former rugby star attempting to dwell out a fantasy, that’s objectively cool.
Even with the rule change, the percentages are slim that Rees-Zammit will make it out of coaching camp and decrease nonetheless that he makes the Chiefs’ energetic roster this season. The Chiefs are aiming for an unprecedented three-peat – and usually tend to fall again on identified portions with expertise within the sport. However the kickoff reform has opened up a lane that the Welshman might run by way of sooner or later. It’s not out of the query that the Chiefs squirrel him away on the observe squad to be taught the sport earlier than giving him a chance to play within the NFL in a season or two.