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The simple explanation to Louis Rees-Zammit's strange NFL role after confusion

Running back Louis Rees-Zammit #9 of the Kansas City Chiefs participates in OTA Offseason workouts at The University of Kansas Health System Training Complex on May 22, 2024 in Kansas City, Missouri. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)

Louis Rees-Zammit completed his second match in American football on Saturday in a preseason loss to the Detroit Lions, and like the week before, he was tried out in a variety of roles.

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In his first match at Kansas City Chiefs’ home ground, Arrowhead Stadium, the 23-year-old returned a kickoff 27 yards, was used as a gunner on the punt team and has been singled out online for his pass protection late in the match.

But fans who saw the former Wales wing making strides in rugby union have been left slightly confused that in both preseason matches now he has been used to take kickoffs.

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Rees-Zammit established a name for himself for his prowess with ball in hand during his time in rugby. While he was comfortable kicking the ball from hand, he was never deployed as a place kicker. Understandably therefore, some have been left a little confused at this new role with the Chiefs.

There is a simple answer to this though, and it has to do with the expertise a rugby player has compared to an NFL kicker, specifically his ability to tackle.

“It’s less about LRZ making the kick and more him being there as an extra person to tackle the return guy,” The Podcast Nobody Asked For explained on X. “Most kickers wouldn’t do that, or at least not as effectively as a rugby convert. Basically gives them an extra guy on defence for returns.”

Though somewhat strange, there were hints that Rees-Zammit would be used as a kicker as early as May. “Louis has done above and beyond what I expected,” assistant head coach and special teams coordinator Dave Toub said.

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“He can kick field goals, he can kickoff, he can be a kickoff guy for us. He’s every bit as good as Justin (Reid) is at moving the football and stuff like that on kickoffs. And he’s really working hard at the returner job. I’ve got him in there as a starter right now so he gets as many reps as he can. He’s a student of the game — he comes in after practice, he wants to be great, he’s a great athlete.”

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Comments

16 Comments
S
Slapsbum 92 days ago

I thought this was rugby pass 🤔. Nobody wants to read about American football, it’s just straight up gay, someone should get fired

p
poondozer 92 days ago

who cares, here for rugby not for NFL news. Please keep it relevant, stop the free advertising for a sport no one here cares about.

S
Smurf0009 93 days ago

This is 'Rugby' Pass. Delete your article.

C
CAT 93 days ago

Delete this nonsense NOW!!!!!!!!! I will report rugbypass.com to DNS servers as spam and misleading! this is not RUGBY!!!!!!!

K
KA 93 days ago

Thanks for the NFL update, RUGBYpass. We don't care.

D
Duncs 93 days ago

Here we go again with Rees. He threw away rugby for NFL. Its like World Rugby is posting about their cheating gold digging ex that they miss. Focus on Rugby please. I don't care about NFL at all. Here for Rugby, what are you doing ?

M
MJC 93 days ago

Don't care for NFL

D
D Allorto 93 days ago

'RUGBY' Pass... not NFL Pass!! If you are going to continue posting NFL sht, please rather change your name to Rugby Se Poes so that we know what we are getting into. Thanks

J
Jacques Pretorius 93 days ago

Sorry I'm not interested in reading NFL news this is a rugby site.

c
claire@forbeslaw.co.za 93 days ago

No one is interested in an ex-rugby player who now plays for the NFL.

N
Neo Draxler 93 days ago

I live in America so the last thing I want to read on this site is NFL news. You will not gain any new fans by pandering to a different sport. Americans call football "soccer" for a reason, they do not care about anything they can't win, so if you want to kill rugby union go ahead and keep posting this garbage here.🤬

F
FQ 93 days ago

fk off with your advertising and go get another job

R
RW 96 days ago

@josh Raisey, who cares?

I
IS 96 days ago

No one talked about him while he was a rugby player now you wanna talk about him and he's not even playing the sport

N
NO 96 days ago

Didn't realize that as rugby fans we now need to have in depth knowledge of an NFL team and their management. Delighted that LRZ is following his dreams and very best of luck to the lad but until he makes noises about returning to rugby think it's safe to say the vast majority of us couldn't care less about the Kansas Chiefs and their inner workings.

G
GrahamVF 96 days ago

Long silence …. Sound of crickets chirping. What exactly has this to do with the world in Union … unless you are on LRZ’s parole as a PR. Genuinely, I seriously doubt that anybody outside his inner circle has any interest whatsoever ever of his exploits or otherwise in American football

B
Bull Shark 96 days ago

I couldn’t agree more. It’s like Rugby Pass’ own version of “Panda Watch”.

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Hellhound 27 minutes ago
France put World Cup pain behind them with unbeaten run in November

France is starting to look like they are finally over their WC headache, although they were lucky that NZ had a very bad game. The Argies as usual is one game good, the next bad. If they can sort that out and be more consistent, they could become contenders for the WC.


NZ, Argentina (if they are more consistent), and now the Wallabies too is in an upward curve (can they be consistent?), as well as Fiji(as inconsistent as Argentina) looks like possible contenders. The Boks will be as usual a huge threat to defend their title. Things are looking up for the South, so the North should rightfully beware of the Southern Hemisphere threat.


With the French looking dangerous, the English with their close runs (mostly a mindset problem) and the Scottish seems to be the NH main contenders. The Irish is good, but not excellent anymore. They are more overbearing and with their glory days mostly gone with old players hanging on by a thread, by 2027 if they don't start adding in the younger players, they won't make it past yet another WC Quarter final. The problem is that their youngsters, while good is nothing special.


That is just 8 teams without the Irish that can become real WC contenders. Lots of hickups to be sorted still for these teams, excluding the Boks to become a threat. Make no mistake, the top Tier is much closer than people realise and the 2027 WC will be a really great WC, possibly the best contended WC ever.

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