He’s used to wearing No 14 or No 15 for Wales but Louis Rees-Zammit donned the No 9 shirt for the Kansas City Chiefs as he made his NFL debut in a pre-season game against the Jacksonville Jaguares at EverBank Stadium.
The 23-year-old Rees-Zammit signed a three-year deal with the Chiefs, the two-time defending Super Bowl champions, in March after making a headline-grabbing code-switch away from rugby union.
He joined superstars Patrick Mahomes, Trevor Lawreance, Carson Wentz and Mac Jones were among the big-name players who joined the Chiefs squad in the first pre-season outing.
Wearing a helmet and pads he played a bit of running back, kick returner, kicker and as part of the special teams’ unit on punt returns. It was a fairly quiet debut with one rushing yard from two carries, three receiving yards from one catch, and a tackle as well.
He was also called upon to take a kick-off for the Chiefs during the third quarter of a game that was won by the Jaguares 26-13.
“It was a great first experience. I loved it, I loved getting the snaps that I did, on special teams as well which was great,” Rees-Zammit told The Irish NFL Show.
“I’ve just got to look back on this, review it and see how I can get better. I got a little kick-off – that was great.
“Being able to play special teams is amazing, to exploit different skills. I’m happy and I’m going to see how I can get better and take that on to the next game.”
Having spent all summer learning the skills required to make the grade in a completely new sport Rees-Zammit is hoping to clinch a place on the Chiefs’ final 53-man roster for the upcoming regular season.
“The atmosphere was great. It’s pretty electric in this stadium and there were a load of Chiefs fans which helped massively – great game and looking forward to the next one,” he added.
