The Kansas City Chiefs took a leap of faith this offseason by signing rugby star Louis Rees-Zammit as the backup running back. It’s very rare for top teams to take a gamble on former rugby players, as they generally aren’t the solution to immediate success. Transitioning from rugby to American Football takes time. But luckily for Chiefs fans, Rees-Zammit is working hard to expedite this process.
Advertisement
Rugby and American Football are worlds apart in terms of rules, functioning, and intensity. So for Louis, who has been playing rugby since 12, adapting to American Football meant a lot of unlearning what he learned. In his media address recently, he cited the example of the difference in pad level between rugby and the NFL to make the “unlearning” process clear.
A pad level in the NFL is basically an RB’s ability to keep pads low with knees bent, chest up, and eyes straight ahead while playing at full speed. Considering rugby players don’t wear pads and engage in this routine, Rees-Zammit admitted that he is finding it challenging to adjust to this aspect of the game.
“I think the biggest thing is pad level you know, not standing upright, allowing the defense to give easy push on you, dropping your body height, bracing for tackles you know… Everything’s completely different… I mean it’s a completely different sport.”
While Rees-Zammit did divulge that apart from pad levels, physical strain hasn’t been much due to his years of rugby practice, what however is challenging him is the tactical side of the game.
Rees-Zammit Is Spending Additional ‘Two Hours’ to Learn the Chiefs Playbook
It’s no secret that in terms of tactics and game awareness, American Football is much ahead of its UK counterpart. Moreover, football has evolved tactically at a much higher rate over the last two decades. Each team has its own blueprint codified in a playbook. So the basic requirement for every NFL athlete is to remember the playbook by heart and execute plays spontaneously on the field.
For someone like Rees-Zammit from a rugby background, aspects of the game that activate the frontal cortex are relatively new. A part of this is learning the playbook. Admittedly, the RB is encountering this for the first time in his life and has revealed that he is spending an additional two hours each day memorizing it.
Rees-Zammit outlined that his immediate goal is to make the plays from the playbook, and his second nature is to be fit enough to get into the team. “I’m nonstop trying to learn this playbook because as soon as I can start not having to think about playing and just playing fast, that’s the biggest thing for me,” said the former rugby star.
For most NFL fans, such basic nuances of the game are often overlooked because of the high standards of the athletes. So it’s fresh to see Louis-Zammit share the basic blocks of American Football with the fans as it makes us have more appreciation for the athletes.
That said, all eyes will be on the rookie running back this season as it will be interesting to see if the Chiefs’ gamble worked. Because if it does, floodgates might soon open up for rugby stars transitioning to American Football.
