Someone had to go first.
And it wasn’t Louis Rees-Zammit.
GettyChristian Wade showed off his rugby speed the first time he touched the ball[/caption]
Rees Lightning is set to soak in another wave of media attention for the next two weeks, as the Jacksonville Jaguars try to revive their season in London for the second consecutive year.
Rees-Zammit, the former Wales rugby star, spent the NFL offseason trying to make the Kansas City Chiefs‘ 53-man roster, and suddenly having his name linked with Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce on international celebrity websites.
Now, he’s one life-changing decision away from a practice squad promotion to a precious spot on the Jags’ active game-day roster.
Christian Wade made the fascinating rugby-to-NFL leap first.
The 33-year-old Slough native believes that LRZ can go even farther than he did.
“One hundred percent,” Wade exclusively told talkSPORT.
“All it takes is … he needs to get the trust of his coaches. So they know, OK, we can put him in the game.”
As the Caleb Williams vs Trevor Lawrence top-draft-pick battle approaches Sunday inside Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, the social-media savvy LRZ has yet to accomplish anything close to Wade in American football.
“Christian Wade is the running back and he gets the carry here,” echoes an announcer’s voice, as a 5ft 9in and 196lb multi-sport athlete wears Buffalo’s red, white and blue.
“He gets the carry here — and look at Wade go!
GettyWade returned to rugby after being cut by the Buffalo Bills one last time[/caption]
GettyLouis Rees-Zammit could learn from Wade’s NFL experience[/caption]
“All the way from England to the house! Touchdown, Buffalo!”
Five years ago, that brilliant preseason 65-yard TD run by a former rugby player lit up social media.
“He looks so surprisingly happy after scoring,” one fan posted. “What a humble guy.”
Five years later, Wade proudly stands inside a London sports bar.
There’s a familiar Bills jersey, a collection of reporters and cameras, and a personal sports story that Wade is still processing in 2024.
Wade, who was called up to the England national team, starred for Wasps in Premiership Rugby.
Then the kid who grew up inspired by Michael Jordan‘s “Space Jam” attempted to accomplish the unthinkable by retiring from rugby at 27.
“I always was fascinated by the way the Americans trained,” Wade said. “Their work ethic and stuff like that. For me, it was something that was definitely in my heart for a long time.”
Now, YouTube is the only place to find Wade on an NFL field.
He was waived — just like Rees-Zammit — signed to a practice squad, inked a futures contract, waived again and signed to another practice squad.
There are officially no statistics for Wade in NFL history, since preseason stats aren’t counted.
talksportWade came close to playing in the NFL and now knows the business side of the game[/caption]
After a shoulder injury led to him being waived by the Bills for a final time in 2022, Wade returned to rugby and joined Gloucester in 2024.
“How the Bills never found a position for Wade on the main roster is crazy,” a fan commented. “Wicked fast, crazy strong and one of the nicest guys in sport.”
Four years living on the fringe of the cutthroat NFL world gives Wade a unique cross-continent perspective on America’s most-popular sport.
The state-of-the art facilities, highly detailed coaching, dense playbooks, and the fact that more time is spent breaking down video in team meetings than practicing on a field.
The realization that a legion of eager prospects — who’ve been playing football daily since childhood — are angling to leap up the NFL’s constantly churning ladder to take someone else’s prized spot.
Imagine trying to jump from Major League Soccer to a spot in Manchester City‘s starting 11 in the Premier League — and Pep Guardiola also wants you to play a different sport.
GettyRees-Zammit failed to make the Chiefs’ roster and chose to sign with Jacksonville[/caption]
“At the end of the day it’s a business, right?” Wade said.
“If you got talent and the potential, they may bring you in, they may not. You’ve got to think about hundreds of thousands of guys who are great players or had great athletic abilities, who didn’t even get to the NFL.”
The flip side of that real-world wisdom is that LRZ has now been deemed promising enough that he’s been signed to two NFL practice squads, and the 1-4 Jaguars are clearly searching for a spark.
At the core, it will come down to talent, timing and luck for Rees-Zammit.
Wade had the first — the other two are equally important in the NFL, and sometimes more defining.
Rees-Zammit must flash in practice, then jump forward and never look back if a door magically opens.
“That’s the place where Zan wants to get to,” Wade said.
“Because he’s not going to be first string, second string or whatever. But (they) will be, OK, we’ve got this guy. He’s fast, he’s got great skills. We can trust him if we need to use him … that’s basically the stage you want to get to.
“You can never predict what’s going to happen. For me, personally, if he’s there in the league, he has everything he needs to be able to play.”
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