NFL star Tyreek Hill is renowned for his explosive acceleration and devastating speed but now he has a serious rival to his nickname ‘Cheetah’.
That’s because Welsh rugby player Louis Rees-Zammit announced on Tuesday that he is quitting rugby to pursue his dream of playing in the NFL.
The 22-year-old, one of rugby’s most exciting wingers, has accepted an invitation to join the league’s international player pathway, his English team Gloucester said.
The pacey winger – traditionally the main offensive threat in a rugby team – once set a top speed of 24.2mph during a game.
That is quicker than the 23.24mph produced by Hill on a 27-yard kickoff return while playing for the Kansas City Chiefs in 2016.
Louis Rees-Zammit has a top speed faster than NFL star Tyreek Hill – who’s renowned for speed
Hill has showed no sign of slowing down, though. He got up to 22mph with the Dolphins against the New York Giants earlier this season.
Despite only being 22, Rees-Zammit has built a reputation for being one of the most clinical finishers in world rugby.
He already has an outrageous highlight reel behind him that includes tries where he leaves defenders for dead or makes up huge distances with his raw speed.
‘I have had the incredible honor of playing rugby for my country which, as a proud Welshman, I’ve never taken for granted,’ Rees-Zammit said.
‘However, I believe that this is the right time for me to realize another professional goal of playing American football in the U.S. Those opportunities don’t come around very often.’
Gloucester said Rees-Zammit would be leaving for Florida this week to begin the international player-pathway program.
The IPP takes place across a 10-week period ahead of the 2024 NFL season, which begins later this year.
Rees-Zammit played for Wales at last year’s World Cup where they lost in the quarter-finals
Hill won the Super Bowl with the Kansas City Chiefs but now plays for the Miami Dolphins
‘Whilst we are naturally sad to see him leave, ultimately we are not able to dissuade him from taking an opportunity of this magnitude with the NFL,’ Gloucester chief executive Alex Brown said.
This remarkable move by Rees-Zammit is highly unusual but by no means unprecedented, as a handful of other rugby players have gravitated to the NFL in recent years.
Most famously, Wasps and England wing Christian Wade earned a training squad place with the Buffalo Bills only for injury to prevent him from carrying on to reach the NFL proper.
But the timing of the move is a huge surprise, coming less than three weeks before Wales’ Six Nations opener against Scotland in Cardiff.
Rees-Zammit made his debut for Wales in 2020, playing in the World Cup last year, and – at the age of 20 – was in the British and Irish Lions squad in 2021 for the tour of South Africa.
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