The Kansas City Chiefs are expected to add a new international player to the fold, signing ex-Rugby star Louis Rees-Zammit after a successful tryout per reports.
Rees-Zammit is one of several players participating in the 2024 NFL International Player Pathway (IPP) Program. It's a 10-week crash course designed to teach international athletes the required skills to succeed in the NFL. They replicate an NFL training camp schedule and go through everything from on-field practices, film study, learning the game in a school setting, and various types of physical training. It's really just a way to build all of the general habits that NFL players need.
As a result of participating in the IPP, Rees-Zammit will not count toward the 90-man offseason roster. He'll be given a roster exemption. Should he make the team's 16-man practice squad, he'll also be given an exemption, just like Jason "Chu" Godrick had in Kansas City last season.
Here are some need-to-know details about the Chiefs' newest offensive weapon:
Rees-Zammit has competed successfully at the highest levels of Rugby
Rees-Zammit has led a successful and historic career in Rugby, making his mark on the sport since he was just 16 years old. He played wing at club level for Gloucester from 2018-2024. He has already made 32 international appearances for Wales, scoring 14 tries, including five tries in the Rugby World Cup. He toured with The British & Irish Lions in 2021, becoming the youngest player selected for a tour since 1959.
By all accounts, he is leaving behind a promising Rugby career to pursue the NFL because it's something he's dreamed of doing since he was just a young boy. His career in Rugby was simply the best path he saw to achieving that goal.
Rees-Zammit's father sparked his love for American football
Louis Rees-Zammit's father, Joseph Zammit, played American football for an aspiring league in Great Britain. He played for the Welsh team, the Cardiff Tigers, in the 1980s for the Budweiser League, which eventually became the British American Football Association (BAFA).
Watching his father play American football in Europe planted the seeds, and made Rees-Zammit a fan of the game. However, due to various circumstances, his father never had the opportunity to come to the U.S. and play football. Now, Rees-Zammit has the means to pick up where his father left off. He also hopes to inspire other athletes in Wales to play NFL football.
“My dad as a teenager in the UK, he always played American football,” Rees-Zammit told CNN. “It was pretty tough for him back then though to get over to the States and go to college and try and go through that system. I kind of want to continue his legacy and go beyond and inspire a lot of people back home to be able to make this change and, you know, have the confidence to do it as well.”
What's the toughest part of transitioning from Rugby to the NFL?
There are some translatable skills from Rugby to NFL football, but he's going to have to learn, unlearn, and relearn things to become successful in the NFL. He's been catching a ball his entire life, but he has to adjust to the shape, size, and how to carry and protect an NFL football.
In addition to just learning aspects of the game, there are things that his body must adjust to. The pace and movements that your body goes through in the NFL are entirely different from that of playing a wing in Rugby.
"My body is obviously not used to running full pace and then trying to stop immediately," Rees-Zammit said in an NFL UK documentary. "I can definitely feel that in my legs, and day-by-day I'm slowly getting used to it and my body will adapt. That'll get smoother and smoother."
Which NFL players does Rees-Zammit idolize and study?
Growing up Rees-Zammit's favorite NFL player was Philadelphia Eagles WR DeSean Jackson. It's quite the coincidence that Rees-Zammit now joins a team coached by Andy Reid and managed by Brett Veach, who both were instrumental in bringing Jackson to Philly and fostering his NFL success. Perhaps that was a selling point for the ex-Rugby star during his visit to Kansas City.
Rees-Zammit recently told The Telegraph's Ben Coles that he models his game after players like San Francisco 49ers RB Christian McCaffrey and WR Deebo Samuel. He views himself as a hybridized player in the NFL and doesn't want to put himself into a box by declaring that he'll play a single position.
Versatility is never a bad thing in the NFL, and Andy Reid will surely find the best way to use him on offense regardless of his official position title.
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