“When you’re super talented and have options, you do what is best for you,” is how former New York Giants cornerback Jason Bell explains Louis Rees-Zammit’s unexpected return to rugby union from the NFL.
Less than a week after Rees-Zammit’s sudden announcement that he is leaving Jacksonville Jaguars on the eve of the 2025 season, the Wales coach, Steve Tandy, all but named him in his first squad for the forthcoming Autumn Nations games against Argentina, Japan, New Zealand and South Africa, describing his impending return as “a great boost to the game, to fans and to coaches”.
The initial explanation for the premature end of Rees-Zammit’s American dream last week was that it was down to a combination of bad luck, injury and the sacking of the Jaguars’ coaching staff who recruited him from Kansas City Chiefs during the close season. Just a few months ago he appeared determined to stay in the NFL for at least one more year. “I didn’t leave rugby just to try it for a year, people would be pretty dumb to think that I’d leave straight away,” he said in February.
Rees-Zammit had made sufficient progress in Jacksonville to make their 90-strong training squad but the back injury sustained last month, which reduced his chances of making their 53-man active roster for the coming season, prompted a sudden reassessment. With head coach Doug Pedersen and his assistants having been dismissed in April, something else appears to have changed in the interim.
As Bell implies, Rees-Zammit’s options have been increasing elsewhere. In addition to the prospect of the rest of Wales following Tandy’s lead by greeting him as a prodigal son, the 24-year-old is understood to have been approached to join R360, the proposed rebel league whose backers have reportedly signed pre-contract agreements with 160 players in anticipation of a planned launch next year.
While money has never been Rees-Zammit’s main motivation – he has walked out on a £712,000 minimum salary at Jacksonville – the prospect of earning up to £1m for a 12-game season in 12 months’ time would have understandable appeal.
“Professional sport gives you a very short window,” says Bell, who watched Rees-Zammit closely in training this summer preparing for his role as an analyst on Sky Sports. “You’re always fighting Father Time.
“Louis should be very proud of himself. In the NFL we celebrate players who can play two different positions. The fact he even attempted to play a totally different sport at the very highest level is amazing. This year he could have made the team from what I saw in training, you never really know.
“I’m the wrong person to ask because I wasn’t supposed to make it. I wasn’t picked up in the draft, but ended up playing…
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