Louis Rees-Zammit’s brutal ‘wasting my talent’ NFL verdict despite being ‘next to global figures like Mahomes and Kelce’
Louis Rees-Zammit at NFL training last month with the Jaguars
Louis Rees-Zammit has delivered a brutal verdict on his flirtation with NFL, claiming he was ultimately wasting his talent in America.
It was January 2024, just three months after helping Wales reach the quarter-finals of the Rugby World Cup, when the winger quit the sport ahead of the Six Nations following an International Player Pathway program invite to try out for the NFL.
That journey took him to the Kansas City Chiefs and Jacksonville Jaguars, but the ex-Gloucester flyer is now back in the Gallagher Premiership and counting down the time until his likely Bristol debut versus Leicester on September 28.
It was last week when Pat Lam’s recruitment coup was made public, and Rees-Zammit has now been presented to the media in Bristol.
“I was fed up…”
There, he spoke about a myriad of topics – including why he doesn’t regret going to America despite his “wasting my talent” frustrations.
The 24-year-old refused to sugarcoat his USA reflections.
“I just felt that I was wasting my talent out there,” he insisted, pulling no punches. “It’s very difficult to get into the NFL if you haven’t come through the college system.
“It makes sense from a coach’s point of view, because those boys have been playing that sport for so long, and it’s hard to coach someone up on a sport they have never played before.
“You just don’t get the same opportunities as those boys. I wasn’t getting many reps, and I was fed up when I was practising there.
“Just to be involved in a locker room that was completely different from rugby, next to global figures like (Patrick) Mahomes and (Travis) Kelce, I learned from everything they did day to day. But I’m real about it – it probably wasn’t for me in the end.
“There are no regrets. I’m very happy that I made the decision because I would regret it if I never did it. I’ve gone out, did it, played a year, and made a decision to come back and really express my game again.
“It was a gradual thing, but when I went back for year two, I kept thinking about what would happen if I came back to rugby. [Rugby] was a good journey, but it’s one that wasn’t finished. I’m excited to carry it on.”
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