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 more likely to be part of the workforce for his or her annual coaching camp, a form of prolonged trial as he learns the trials of the NFL. He’ll be part of a 90-man coaching camp roster that may ultimately be whittled all the way down to 53, with 16 additional locations up for grabs on the follow squad, in impact a reserve workforce. This season additionally marks the primary time that groups could have an additional spot out there on the follow squad carved out for gamers who’ve come by means 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 may be nonetheless a protracted strategy to go for Rees-Zammit though 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 a number of the finest school 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 could possibly be the minor miracle he needed to construct a significant NFL profession. NFL house owners have agreed to a rule change that may overhaul the league’s kickoff procedure. In recent times, because of the sport’s ongoing concussion disaster, the league adopted a neutered model of kickoffs, the most effective likelihood for a participant to assemble the ball and make a play within the open subject. To address injury concerns, the league drafted guidelines that drastically lowered the variety of returns. Final season, solely 23% of kickoffs have been returned. The newest change will remodel that. The NFL is shifting to a brand new type 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 likelihood at making an NFL roster was as a kick returner on the particular workforce unit. And returners at the moment are at a premium. Enjoying a standard place, it could take time for the 23-year-old to assemble the institutional data wanted to line up on Sundays. However being given 4 or so probabilities a sport to assemble the ball, run and break tackles ought to come naturally to a proficient however uncooked participant just like the Welshman.
Franchises normally take a big gamble on gamers coming by means of the worldwide program within the hope that they may turn into one thing sometime. With the roster exemptions, there aren’t any downsides. At finest, these gamers are considered as fringe prospects, sometimes elite athletes, who could possibly 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 follow squad – who wouldn’t have made a roster underneath the previous methods however who can now convey juice to the return sport.
Rees-Zammit suits the invoice, although the percentages are nonetheless lengthy. Plug him into this yr’s NFL draft and his efficiency in drills that measure velocity, measurement and energy are within the backside 7% of broad receiver prospects. At his Pro Day, the place workforce 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 working 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 working again undertaking and extra of an instantaneous specialist, tilting the percentages ever so barely that he may 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 – may 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 maintaining a specialist, preferring to make use of a working again, broad receiver or defensive participant who may moonlight as a returner.
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Now, that calculus is altering, with the revamped kickoff guidelines. Via that prism, Rees-Zammit’s expertise make sense; he can shake away tackles and drive downhill fairly than having to take care of the intricacies of route working or mastering go 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 most effective quarterback within the sport and the league’s most modern 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 reside 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 recognized portions with expertise within the sport. However the kickoff reform has opened up a lane that the Welshman may run by means of sooner or later. It’s not out of the query that the Chiefs squirrel him away on the follow squad to study the sport earlier than giving him a chance to play within the NFL in a season or two.
