What is a 30-year-old, unemployed NFL running back to do? The obvious choice is to shop yourself around and try to land with the best team for the best price. Grab the cash while you can!
What if LaDainian Tomlinson decided to make a career change? Imagine if you will, LT hung up his pads in an effort to try his had at new sport: rugby.
This is obviously an outlandish thought; there is no money in American rugby and no reason for a Pro-Bowl running back to try a completely different sport.
However, what would a big name NFL player like LT do for the game of rugby? Not just in America, but for the global perspective of the sport?
Consider big name code switchers from league to rugby. There is always a great deal of interest in a particular player switching codes.
Regardless of what they may say, league fans follow code switchers even if just to with them ill. A player moving from the NFL has no code war barriers to deal with.
The attention drawn to rugby would be monumental. The story of LT’s move to rugby would be a global story. Casual sport fans from the US would follow Tomlinson’s progress in the sport, even if they had no clue what they were watching.
The question does arise: how could this ever be a reality?
At this day and age, it doesn’t. Only European clubs would have the means to possibly get a sniff from a person of Tomlinson’s caliber. In spite of LT being 30, he is still a huge name and pulls a lot of weight monetarily.
Tomlinson would also have to have an interest in the sport to even make this a consideration, but that might change soon.
If there is one thing that the NFL doesn’t have, it is international competition. With rugby in the Olympics, NFL players might consider taking up the sport in an effort to win an Olympic medal.
If you don’t believe me, several NFL running backs have tried their hand at bobsledding. Former NFL great Herschel Walker is an example.
So, bash me for dreaming a little, but I know a day will come when NFL players, in the twilights of their careers, make the switch to rugby.
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- LaDainian Tomlinson, NFL, Rugby Union
February 25th 2010 @ 4:09am
Sharminator said | February 25th 2010 @ 4:09am | Report comment
Question 1. who is LaDainian Tomlinson?
I watched the superbowl … but Im afraid I have no idea.
I think that if “LT” did switch to rugby for some unknown reason, the reaction amongst Americans would be the same.
“He switched to what? Where?” and once they heard the answer they wouldnt bother following it up anymore.
The main point is that NFL is a fundamentally different sport to rugby union.
The completely different nature of the sports NFL and Union would make it a huge risk to actually sign someone.
1. Ball Skills
The majority of players, apart from wide recievers and running backs, never actually touch the ball in NFL.
90% of NFL players therefore would not make very good candidates to transfer to rugby on this basis.
In terms of catching and running with the ball skills, Wide Recievers and Running backs would make the best candidates as they touch the ball the most, apart from the quarteback.
Wide Recievers tend to catch a ball thrown to them.
Running backs tend to get the ball softly pop passed to them.
The skills needed are very different to being able to catch a bigger rugby ball.
In terms of passing skills the quarterback is usually the only player in an NFL team who practices passing.
The nature of passing and the ball in NFL is so different I dont think this skill is interchangable with rugby.
All players converting to rugby would therefore need to learn to pass.
2. Fitness
NFL is a very stop start sport. The focus is explosiveness and acceleration. The ball is never in play for more than a few seconds. This means that players dont tend to have the aerobic base necessary for playing rugby, which, although having parts of explosivity, involves 80 minutes of continuous aerobic fitness.
Changing sports would involve a lot of training before even being physically ready to play rugby.
There is also the nature of physiques, NFL players are big and strong, but use padding and helmets. There are things you can do with padding, that you cant without it, using your head as a weapon etc. Players would also need to really reinforce their shoulders, which has been protected before.
3. Pay
The pay in NFL is astronomical. I dont think any recognised NFL player would ever give up to come to rugby, for peanuts.
On the other hand, i dont think any rugby club would be able to justify paying much to an NFL star with no union experience.
4. Learning a new code
Having seen many Union to League and League to Union swaps at the professional level, even though these two sports are very similar, at times players struggle with the switch, few players have really starred at both levels.
The gap in rules and how to play, between NFL and RU is enormous. I played a season of rugby in the US a few years ago.
The majority of our players were actually ex american football players .. who took the game up at 18 after not getting into a college team … or after college .. after not getting into a pro team.
There were some fantastic athletes … but the fact they only took up rugby at 18 or 21 really hampered them, especially in the catching, passing and tackling departments. Basic skills really need to be ingrained in the teenage years, after that it is a lot harder to learn.
5. Actual cases
There have been some cases of players transferring from NFL to RU.
During the Super League war a few americans were recruited for ARL sides, especially Balmain.
Apart from that, there have been 5 ex high level American Football players who have played rugby for the US in various forms.
There is a list on Wiki … the point is that all of these players were players who were released from NFL
contracts or tryouts, or got injured.
Overall, I dont think any rugby union club will ever sign a current top level NFL athlete … the money required and the risk that the player will be a dud, is simply too high.
However, with 7´s now in the olympics I think we will see more Americans, who are not making it in NFL, choose to try rugby, as an alternative.
As with previous NFL players, if they make it to the US 7´s or XV´s team, and perform, there is then a chance they would be signed by a rugby club in Europe. There are currently two ex NFL players in the USA 7´s squad who were put in the squad on the basis of their physical ability, not rugby skills. I remember reading an interview with the USA head coach who said he just had to teach them to catch, pass, and the rules of the game.
With 7´s in the olympics it will be interesting to see what happens in countries like the US, Russia, Brazil, China, India etc .. that have huge populations but little high level rugby heritage. Oympic funding has now been unlocked to support rugby 7´s programs …
I guess there is also the question as to whether developing 7´s for the olympics will have much of an effect on XV´s — Kenya is an example where they are now challenging the best on the 7´s circuit .. but their XV´s team has made little develiopment.
February 25th 2010 @ 5:51am
Brissie Kid said | February 25th 2010 @ 5:51am | Report comment
In my experience Americans have a lot of difficulty passing the football sideways or backwards when running. It just doesn’t come natueral to them. Good idea though.
February 25th 2010 @ 6:07am
MyGeneration said | February 25th 2010 @ 6:07am | Report comment
I’m sure if someone can match LT’s US$6,731,630 (that’s a mere AUS$7,545,759.68) total salary for last year, he’d love to switch! I hear Rod Macqueen has been on the phone for the Rebels, trying to get him down to 5 mill. Once this minor hurdle is overcome, the floodgates will open.
Another minor hurdle is the fact that NFL running backs take an incredible amount of punishment. Once they get over the hill, they go down the other side pretty fast. That’s why a player like Ladainian Tomlinson (who, I believe, is the top running back of the last 10 years, or close to it) is being let go by his club at the age of 30. He can probably still make a couple of mill a year playing a smaller role at some other NFL club. I don’t think there will be much incentive to take a pay cut and try and learn a new game where you will take a different kind of pounding and risk making a fool of yourself (eg. Michael Jordan in baseball).
February 25th 2010 @ 6:28am
Matt Manley said | February 25th 2010 @ 6:28am | Report comment
LaDainian Tomlinson is an NFL running back who played for the San Diego Chargers. He is 8th all time in rushing yards and 5th in touchdowns. He was recently cut by his team.
I played football in high school and didn’t pick up rugby until college. I know how steep of a learning curve we are talking about when it comes to learning rugby.
I know that it all must seem far fetched, and at the current moment it is, but down the road I see it as a legitimate possibility.
Rugby is growing in the high school ranks. Many current NFL players are former high school rugby players. One of which, Haloti Ngata (Baltimore Ravens) has said he would like to return to rugby after his NFL career is over.
Eventually rugby, especially 7′s, will draw the attention of the American sporting public. Just like soccer and even cricket has done.
February 25th 2010 @ 7:13am
Hanzo said | February 25th 2010 @ 7:13am | Report comment
It’s pretty unlikely that someone of the pedigree of “LT” would try their hand union. However now that 7′s is an Olympic sport I wouldn’t rule out an accomplished football runningback (someone from a Div 1 college or a non-starting NFL player) giving it a go.
February 25th 2010 @ 8:01am
Fivehole said | February 25th 2010 @ 8:01am | Report comment
I agree with Hanzo – You can target young players from college that don’t get drafted in the NFL. There are plenty of athletes not quite big enough for the NFL, but as rugby is not as stop start, size (whilst important) isn’t critical like in the NFL.
I’d target linebackers rather than running backs though – at least you know they can tackle and don’t mind throwing themselves into a ruck!
February 25th 2010 @ 8:10am
Sharminator said | February 25th 2010 @ 8:10am | Report comment
but the problem is that most NFL line backers have absolutely no aerobic capacity.
Tight ends … yes .. a possibillity .. but the rest of the line .. too big and slow with no endurance. They specialise en 5 seconds of action.
February 25th 2010 @ 9:19am
Fivehole said | February 25th 2010 @ 9:19am | Report comment
A popular misconception – Sure both the offensive and defensive lines would be useless, as would the quarterback, punters and kickers. But the rest of the players with changed training routines focusing on endurance rather than explosiveness would go alright
February 25th 2010 @ 9:25am
Sharminator said | February 25th 2010 @ 9:25am | Report comment
strange post …
“A popular misconception – Sure both the offensive and defensive lines would be useless”
That is exactly what I said … the linebackers, apart from tight ends would not be any good.
The only players really suited to rugby would be wide recievers and maybe running backs ..
Yeah they could be trained to focus on endurance .. but this would take time …
and then there is still the skill problem ….
The US might convert a few players to sevens .. but I can never see the day when topline NFL players will be recuruited by any professional rugby union or league team .. without several years of rugby at national level for the US behind them.
February 25th 2010 @ 9:46am
Fivehole said | February 25th 2010 @ 9:46am | Report comment
Linebackers are not offensive/defensive linemen. They fit in between the fat linemen and the
speedy secondary. Have to be big and fast.
Dhani Jones is a linebacker for the Cincinnati Bengals. Last off season he went around the world trying different sports. Here is a video of him trying rugby.
February 25th 2010 @ 10:12am
Fivehole said | February 25th 2010 @ 10:12am | Report comment
One thing we can all agree on…LaDainian is a stupid name. And to all the little LaDainian’s cheesed at me for saying this – Don’t take it out on me, go and slap your mother for giving you such a ridiculous moniker instead.
February 25th 2010 @ 10:27am
Tom said | February 25th 2010 @ 10:27am | Report comment
I would love to see Troy Polamalu of the Pittsburgh Steelers play rugby. He is extremely fast and an absolute defensive weapon.
February 25th 2010 @ 10:41am
ricardo said | February 25th 2010 @ 10:41am | Report comment
nothing special bout troy on a rugby field..he’s samoan and most of the samoan sevens team are bigger, stronger, tougher, more skillful and faster than him..
February 25th 2010 @ 10:37am
ricardo said | February 25th 2010 @ 10:37am | Report comment
the experiments involving the two former football players- peters and brazzell – with the USA sevens is an example that nfl players will never crack it in the modern rugby game..most of the time they’re either lost or ineffective in there..nothing special bout them, just track and gym bunnies..don’t forget also, once rio comes around, the top rugby nations will stack their 7s teams with fulltime 15s professionals..and that will be a completely different ballgame to the current sevens series the usa sevens team is struggling with..
ladamianan, or the wotever the feck his name is or any current nfl player for that matter will never make a successful transition to top rugby..
February 25th 2010 @ 5:43pm
Matt Manley said | February 25th 2010 @ 5:43pm | Report comment
You’re full of it if you think 15′s players can just breeze in and win at 7′s. Didn’t work for Australia in the Commonwealth Games now did it?
I do see some teams pulling out all the stops, France for sure will stack the side. However, even New Zealand won’t pull a winning 7′s team off the pitch in favor of All Blacks that may or may not be as useful. Tietjens said as much himself.
Sevens is a specialty game.
The USA Sevens side will look completely different at Rio. The USOC wants to win medals and will back the team with whatever they need to win. This has already begun.
As for Brazell and Peters, they have only played so much rugby. I would expect you to be lost playing a few downs of gridiron. I am not saying they will by world beaters, but with time, who is to say they won’t?
February 25th 2010 @ 10:42am
Matt Manley said | February 25th 2010 @ 10:42am | Report comment
I know that this is all unrealistic. Big name professional from American will never take the risk or pay cut with playing a new sport overseas. NFL and NBA rejects are much more likely to make that leap.
However, it is interesting to consider the ‘what if’s?’
All things considered, defensive backs would make the easiest transition to rugby. Cornerbacks and safeties have what it takes.
February 25th 2010 @ 5:21pm
Working Class Rugger said | February 25th 2010 @ 5:21pm | Report comment
Matt
Having NFL’s or even College Footballer’s convert to Rugby with absolutely no experience in the game isn’t exactly the best policy. It may get some limited media coverage but that’s about it. What needs to be done is get Rugby into more and more Junior/Senior High School districts aswell as Rookie Rugby into the Elementary School system. By exposing more children to the game the better your chances of finding the type of skilled athlete you want.
Above someone mentioned you need to have the skillset to play Rugby ingrained during at the latest the High School years. Very true. USARugby would be wise to utilise any funding it will recieve by the way of the USOC to really push Schools Rugby as well as spending significant time and effort convincing High School Football programs that Rugby would be the perfect complimentary sport to Football in the off season. That way if/when these player’s miss out on the NFL or possibly convert from it they have the basics down. It’s alot easier to simply re-tune an athlete to use previous skills than completely overhaul it.
The temptation could exist for USARugby to simply invest in the short term with any funding but I believe planning for the future considering assuming the USA makes the Rio event the player’s in that squad afre still in school.
February 25th 2010 @ 4:09pm
King of the Gorganites said | February 25th 2010 @ 4:09pm | Report comment
good article matt. you rasie some interesting points about the potential of rugby in the states.
i think what is clear is how big rugby is becoming in North America. i was recently visiting some old friends in the mid-west of america, and there son, who plays rugby at the local high school, said rugby has grown ten fold at his school over the last year. rugby at the shool now has 3 open sides, and two sides per age group. this is larger then soccer which has one side per age. whilst nfl is still holds an iconic place at the school ,the fact is that rugby has 3 times more rugby players at the school then gridion.
big things are happening in american rugby.