I am a former rugby to NFL convert and after two years with the Steelers the thing Louis Rees-Zammit will need to succeed is thick skin to deal with being cussed out every day during training

Christian Scotland-Williamson has some simple advice for new Kansas City Chief Louis Rees-Zammit – learn fast and watch out for the weight room.

Former Wales wing Rees-Zammit, 23, will join the double Super Bowl champion Chiefs practice squad as he attempts to become only the sixth player from the International Player Pathway Programme to make an active NFL roster.

In a brutal sport on and off the field – less than two per cent of college players make it to the NFL – Scotland-Williamson revealed the harsh realities of the daily grind after he too left rugby behind to chase his American dream.

Frustrated by a lack of opportunities at Worcester Warriors, footage of a Scotland-Williamson tackle against Wasps went viral and came to the attention of NFL scouts.

In 2018, Scotland-Williamson joined the Pittsburgh Steelers practice squad for two seasons on the IPPP as the 6ft 9in second row became a tight end at the age of 24.

‘Coach Mike Tomlin said to me: “I don’t care where you come from – if you can help us win, you’ll play”. That wasn’t something that I had never experienced in rugby,’ Scotland-Williamson says.

‘But the whole first year was really tough. Getting cussed out every single day because you were making mistakes. You feel like you can’t put one foot in front the other and you are really having to put a significant amount of work in just to change the mindset and to have people believe that you could potentially do it. Initially it was just like: “Why have I come out here?”’ 

While Scotland-Williamson departed England with a degree in economics and a masters in business, neither could prepare him for the complexities of Pittsburgh’s playbook – a vast tome featuring hundreds of offensive and defensive plays, each with their own complex verbiage and intricate diagrams.

‘The quicker you can learn the game, the faster you can play,’ he says. ‘In year one, I didn’t know what was going on. I had never been in a huddle before. I had never heard a play call. Even guys from college going into the NFL struggle to pick up the playbook. Full stop.

‘So I saw that as an opportunity. That was my point of advantage. If I can make less system errors from knowing the playbook inside and out, then that will earn the trust of my coach to put me in. He will know: “He knows where to be and what to do”.

‘You have to get to the point where you’re not thinking about the small details – you know where to line up, you’re not trying to digest a 10-word play call, which sounds like verbal hieroglyphics – it’s like learning a new language.

‘That then allows you to be the athlete. That’s the reason why you’re on the programme, which is why you’re there. But until you understand the game, you can’t show it. The average play in the NFL is less than four seconds. And if you’re thinking for one of those seconds, you’ve lost a quarter of your time to even do anything and you’re not going to be effective.’

When it did sink in, it became a significant advantage for Scotland-Williamson.

‘The jump from year one to year two for me, where I was really impressing was because I knew the game. As soon as the play call comes in, you break the huddle and you’re not trying to figure out: “Do I go to the right or do I go to the left? Where am I lining up?” You’re not thinking about that because that’s already ingrained.

‘And then the next thing you’re able to focus on is: “OK, what’s the defence doing during pre-snap? What’s their coverage going to roll to post-snap, which might affect the route that I have to run? Or if I’m trying to block an edge rusher, what’s their leverage? What’s their technique? How am I going to approach jump setting them?”

‘And then just the finer details that allow you to compete at that level. The reason why the highest form of football is the NFL is because of those finer margins. Until you can get the basics down where you’re not having to think about: “Do I step with my left foot or my right foot?”

‘I’ve still got my notepads. Some of the most basic things I would write would be: “Step with inside foot, gain ground”. For someone who’s playing in the NFL to have to think about writing that down they would laugh, but that’s what that’s what you’re starting with – the basics.’

Rees-Zammit grew up watching NFL thanks to his father Joe, who played for the Cardiff Tigers. He is touted as a running back or wide receiver, but Scotland-Williamson thinks there is opportunity for Rees-Zammit as a special teams player.

With the NFL this week changing the kick off rule for a year – the sport’s least exciting play could become one of its most thrilling – the Welshman has a chance to shine in Dave Toub’s innovative unit as the sport acclimatises to an entirely new play.

‘For Louis, he’s probably got a chance to play without knowing too much if he can get on special teams, being a kick or punt returner. You know which way the return is going. Catch the ball, be an athlete, beat someone. That’s your quickest way to play,’ says Scotland-Williamson.

‘But if he’s trying to actually make a proper go and being a running back or slot receiver, then it’s going to be about really putting the time in off the field to allow him to actually express himself properly and show people why he’s there.’

But Scotland-Williamson shared a word of warning about the change in sporting culture.

‘I had never really tapped into my like true power as an athlete, so when I went to America, I was doing a lot more explosive work – a lot more sprinting. I got so much faster and stronger. But equally with that I had a lot of injuries associated with overtraining and the transition to a completely new sport at the highest level,’ Scotland-Williamson says.

‘When I first got there, I packed on 10 kilos of muscle that I then had to lose in my second year, because I wanted to stay faster as well. In rugby I wasn’t allowed to be in the gym more than twice a week, whereas in America you go to the gym every single day. And I warned them when I went over there! You know, you’re playing with fire! It was completely different training. I really enjoyed it, although I would say that rugby was probably scientifically further along than American football, which a lot of people are surprised by, given the money involved.

‘I’d say the sports science was actually further along in terms of the way the practictioners operate. And also with physios, the knowledge and injury diagnosis was not up to standard and that ended up being part of the reason why my time was cut short.

‘With rugby you have a certain number of players that you have for the whole year. You know that if they get injured the season is so long, there’s a chance of them returning. And if you get them to return, you want to make sure that they are fit to return and ready to stay healthy. Whereas the NFL’s mindset is a bit more: “We need to play now”.’

While athletes from Aussie rules, both rugby codes and Gaelic football are on the IPP, and the likes of Efe Obada, Jordan Mailata and Jakob Johnson are some of its success stories, Scotland-Williamson said his transition to the NFL was not an easy one.

Scotland-Williamson, who is now training for the bar, says: ‘I went to school with Christian Wade and called him and said: “You need to come out here”. He went to the Buffalo Bills for similar reasons: he was a tremendous athlete who had a lot of frustrations with his face not fitting in rugby.

‘But then going to America you’re up against it culturally, because people aren’t prepared to really accept the fact that other people could pick up the sport so quickly and actually succeed and do well.

‘But now you’ve seen six or seven iterations of the programme. There’s 32 spaces on teams now. Mindsets are becoming more open to the fact that there is diverse talent from different backgrounds that they can draw from. Things have changed, but for me, it was it was really hard. It was definitely the hardest thing I’ve ever done.’