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Good on him
It's worth a throw of the dice, but the odds are stacked massively against him.
He'll be a massive loss to the national rugby team but he'll only regret not giving the NFL a go if really wants to give it a shot.
He’s really not going to fit at his size in the typical positions you’d expect a rugby player to excel at. My guess is he will be a big WR, but he will be definitely a small fish in a very big pond there at a position where guys who have his speed are dime a dozen.
Kudos to him giving it a shot but I’ll be stunned if he’s not back in Rugby in a couple of years.
A bit of a shock but on realising he's only 22 it's less so, it's not as if he's going to struggle to find a decent rugby team to play for should he change his mind.
Christian wade made it onto a side for preseason a couple of years back.
had the talent in terms of running ability but ran all the wrong lines.
in NFL you can use other runners as blockers whereas in rugby you can't, so it must be difficult to adapt between the two
Was fast becoming the Welsh media's new poster boy. They won't like this..
Jarryd Hayne (Aussie rugby league star) had a crack at it. He did fairly well in pre-season games.
However, as a running-back, he ran too upright. Things like that get ironed out of a player's game in high-school and college football.
The NFL are not going to waste time on teaching some overseas player how to run with the ball correctly at 22+ years of age, when there's a whole host of players in college football.
The NFL obviously want to have more of a global reach by recruiting overseas players, however, those would-be players are at a huge disadvantage before they've even begun.
Lawrence Okoye (UK discus thrower) wasn’t successful in American football.
I went back 5 years & could not find a single player from the IPP who played a regular season game. Many had played pre-season & practice but not NFL. Read like the teams had taken their quota & money to satisfy the NFL criteria but not had the confidence to put an IPP candidate into their squads.
What’s he got to lose? 12 months of his life, his wages & his international place.
He's joining a Lynyrd Skynyrd Tribute Band
After his 70 yard penalty for Wales a few years ago, Paul Thorburn had a trial with the LA Rams.
Think he played in a pre-season game as a specialist kicker, but got no further.
It's also kickoff return.
He could be one of the players who receives the ball and has to try and return it.
The nature of kickoff return plays makes it highly dangerous.
It's how some of the best rookies 'cut their teeth' and showcase themselves for a starting position on offense/defense.
Disappointed with this, Wales haven't been able to get him into the games too many times, he scored another cracker for Gloucester on the weekend, get him running into the line at pace and he's the real deal, far too often in Welsh games he's taking the ball stationery with little space to work with, Warren ball doesn't suit his game, I would be surprised if he makes it over there, a bit lightweight for their game IMO, but would be delighted for him if he does a Welsh superstar in the USA what's there not to like ?.
He’s 6’3” and has been recorded as 10.44s for 100m. He’s perfect for a WR or CB
I really hope he makes it, but it's a tough ask. Jordan Mailata is the only player I can think of who's come through the IPPP and been a real success.
Very disappointing for Wales.
He has the X factor.
I have no interest in the NFL and won’t be following LRZ if or when he plays. But I will be watching the slow decline of Welsh rugby over the next few years and thinking that he could have made a real difference if he’d hung around.