Rugby star Rees-Zammit to leave Rugby for NFL

[Darbsk]

8 hours ago, RaidersAreOne said:

 

😞😂

Honestly, probably the best place for him. 

Edited March 28 by Darbsk

[minutemancl]

80% chance he ultimately does close to nothing. But I'd say there's a 20% chance he and Dave Toub come up with some seriously cool kickoff return plays (made possible by the new kickoff rule) that take advantage of his skillset and he carves out a niche as a new age kick returner. 

[WheatieMan]

On 3/27/2024 at 1:40 AM, Chiefer said:

Dude I’m so confused by the new rule, does it seem like a rugby style play? 

Just saw highlights of an XFL guy running an end around who takes a short pitch from the returner to the house. 

However, I see it becoming Rugby style at the end of the game when a team takes the lead with a few seconds left to play. If there is no fair catch allowed, and the ball is played in the landing zone, it sets up for Rugby formations to set up a return.

The surprise onside kick is unfortunate though. Is the ball live if it hits the landing zone, in the unlikely event of a muff? I mean, even so, you'd never see a returner not simply fall on the ball (a forced fumble notwithstanding). Still, something had to be sacrificed.

Edited March 28 by WheatieMan

[OkeyDoke21]

19 hours ago, Hunter2_1 said:

Could foresee something like follow-routes, where they're just behind waiting for an inside lateral as the last defender commits. Just as an example

So it's essentially like a speed option with the pitch coming further down field?  That's pretty much what I was envisioning from the descriptions.  When I was saying "option" I was meaning a traditional option with the option pitch that is run in college and high school, not the read option you see everywhere today with the handoff. 

I don't know the rules enough to know how it compares but in rugby/union (I'm sadly not even sure which one I am looking at there) are the stakes as high if the ball hits the ground?  Can the defense pick it up and score?  Are the amount of possessions per team in a game similar to American football where a lost possession is more or less valuable? 

It could work here and there, in football, but I don't know if the reward is outweighing the risk.  Especially if its something you are doing enough to where the defense is prepared for it.  There is almost too much speed on the field that is only so wide, and the offensive player is surrounded by defenders in all directions looking at the ball, while his teammates are looking away from the ball, trying to find someone to block.  If the ball hits the ground down field like that, the odds of a defender recovering it and taking away possession of the ball are really high.  Plus there's a good chance that on a pitch that misses, and an NFL DB picks it up, he's going to put points on the board.  

Laterals are used more, and are more effective in lower levels of football, where when you get a defender out of position, he and his teammates don't have the speed to make up that lost ground before the guy receiving the pitch can accelerate past them.  I don't think that's quite as true in the NFL, even if you're using other players to pitch instead of the QB and taking the financial investment/positional importance portion out.  Speed options and power options were king for a long time in college.  It phased out of the NFL with more and more reliance on the forward pass, and then the lower levels have followed suit, but you still see it some in college, and a fair amount in high school.  Particularly with high schools that haven't adopted a form of the spread.   

[OkeyDoke21]

The easiest way to design it in modern football would probably be with jet motion to a receiver coming across the formation and then having the RB trail him.  It's just going to be difficult for him to turn up field before running out of room to the sideline, and you're not doing to want to run it out of a formation where the D has a corner lined up on the boundary to side you're running the option.  

Edited March 28 by OkeyDoke21

[Soko]

3 hours ago, WheatieMan said:

However, I see it becoming Rugby style at the end of the game when a team takes the lead with a few seconds left to play. 

Teams would still probably boot it through the end zone rather than risk a wonky return.

[goldfishwars]

I think if it happens, you’re looking at bright spots in preseason, most likely on special teams - then it’s a year on the PS. Next year we’ll know for sure. 

[Slappy Mc]

Of course he signed with the Chiefs. Get that ring and retire, haha. 

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/39826601/source-chiefs-agree-deal-rugby-star-louis-rees-zammit

[Chiefer]