Top Rugby Players in NFL History: Bridging Two Worlds
BR31P9 View inside Twickenham Stadium, Twickenham, London. Home of the English Rugby Football Union or RFU
Bringing Physicality to the USA
What Rugby Players Have Flipped to American Football?
The games are similar. So, rugby players in the NFL seemed like a natural for some to try. It isn’t a natural fit but there are a handful of athletes who shot their shot in the best football in the world. Who are they and what former NFL players in rugby union attracted headlines?
What Rugby Player Tried Out for the NFL?
Yes, rugby players have tried out for the NFL. In fact, some have been quite successful. The best example is current Philadelphia Eagles offensive lineman Jordan Mailata. He wasn’t a natural rugby player but at 6-foot-8 and 365 pounds. Mailata played for the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs U18s and South Sydney Rabbitohs U20s.
While he wasn’t a dazzling player on the rugby pitch, he has been stunning in the NFL picks. Mailata has been so good that he earned a three-year contract extension worth $48 million in April of 2024. One other talent Mailata has is that he can sing. He has a beautiful voice.
“He’s a gifted musician,” War on Drugs drummer Charlie Hall, the producer of the Eagles’ holiday albums A Philly Special Christmas and their latest, A Philly Special Christmas Special, told USA TODAY. “Obviously, he can sing. You hear him sing and it’s no joke. It is for real.”
What Rugby Player Tried Out for the NFL?
Some of the other rugby players to take a chance at an NFL career are: Alex Gray, Christian Scotland-Williamson, Valentine Holmes, Christian Wade, Louis Rees–Zammit and Travis Clayson.
A little background on how they fared in the U.S.
- Gray signed with the Atlanta Falcons. He was a practice squad player and never made it on the big stage. He did stick around on and off from 2017 to 2020 before eventually being waived. Gray became better known for becoming a member of the cast of the British TV series “Gladiators.” His role is as Apollo.
- Scotland-Williams signed with the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2018. He bounced around between being waived and on the practice squad until 2020. Upon returning home he continued his education and was called to the Bar of England and Wales in 2023. That made him officially a barrister and attorney.
- Wade was a rugby star before trying his hands at the NFL. He signed with the New York Jets and appeared in multiple preseason games. In a game against the New York Giants in 2019, he rushed three times for six yards and caught three passes for 30 yards. He did not stick with the team.
- Rees–Zammit signed with the Chiefs before the 2024 season. He didn’t stick with them but was picked up by the Jaguars. He is currently on their practice squad. He had a strong rugby career so it will be intriguing to see if he continues to try the NFL or at 23 returns to the rugby union where he will excel.
- Clayton is perhaps the most fascinating of the athletes to try and transition from rugby to the NFL. He became the second player – after Mailata – to be drafted when the Buffalo Bills chose him in the seventh round of the 2024 NFL draft. Why would this be a surprise, when he is 6-foot-7 and 301 pounds? It is because he never played a down of college football. He decided to try American football in 2019 but left an international program. He returned to the NFL Academy in London in 2023 and was impressive enough to capture the eye of the Bills. Clayton’s rookie season was derailed by injury. He was placed on IR in August. Not only was Clayton’s road to the NFL unusual, coming from rugby but before the Bills called he was working in an office.
Do Rugby Players Make Good NFL Players?
There is a huge difference between the physical nature of rugby and playing in the NFL. Clayton pointed out one of the issues in his interview with the BBC. “In rugby, a lot of the time you’re on your toes,” he said. “As an offensive lineman, you’re more flat-footed, so it was about adjusting to the different angles of your hips and your legs.”
So, you start with that as an issue and you move into the entire world of learning a game plan, how to play your position, running routes, blocking patterns, and everything else that goes with being on an NFL roster and you recognize how difficult it is to make the switch from rugby to football.
There is no reason to doubt the athleticism of the rugby players. They are world-class athletes. The question is whether they can learn all the techniques and intricacies that go with being a pro football player. Clayton ran the fastest 40 by an OL prospect in 10 years at the Combine. Will that eventually lead to an NFL career or will he be a freakish athlete who can’t master what it takes to play in the best football league in the world?
