Chiefs sign rugby star 👀 Will more teams start signing rugby players? 🤔 | The Pat McAfee Show

Come on pat, research brotha, he's from Wales

Y’all know the eagles left tackle was a rugby player in Australia before becoming a monster. 6’8” beast Jordan Mailata

He is welsh. He is a world class winger I say this as an Irish man who is lucky enough to have a world class international team at the moment. He looks good he is still very young and has a blistering turn of pace and can tackle and defend a tackle.

As a College Rugby player and a chiefs fan I'm really rooting for this dude

Irish!? He's Welsh bro

He’s Welsh dude 😂

Watched him on the Netflix rugby 6 nations documentary he’s tough

Pat kilt me when he said “he’s a Properly jocked white” lmboo. This Show is hilarious

Chiefs looking out of the box , creativity is the key to wining !! Back to back to back take creativity at his best !!

This signing will be one that attracts the attention of UK rugby fans and beyond, thus opening the NFL up to a bigger overseas fan base. Especially in Wales.
As of that announcement today, the Chiefs are now going to be my team and I've subbed to several Chief's YT channels today 😂

Veach playing chess when others playing checkers

well he has been clocked faster than 4.3something but had a bad run day at the ipp pro day apparently

I think this dude’s gonna be monster out here in the NFL and I’m super psyched to have them on my team Kansas City Chiefs

I'm routing for him and I suspect he's going to the practice squad. But WR? Gotta learn that route tree and know you're going to get hits from 360 degrees. But the new kick-off rules will suit him perfectly. The issue for Rugby players transferring to American Football is still the playbook.

as a welsh guy who played rugby for wales at an international youth level and always loved the nfl this guy has potential to be one of them players you look at and say he changed the game. to me i’ve always not understood why nfl hasn’t used laterals more it’s such an easy thing to do to pass how rugby players do and it would give defenses a nightmare. i think he’d have to have a year as a practice squad member to learn the game but if he can nail that down he will be game changing. it would make the sport more global would have other people looking into it because rugby doesn’t pay like other sports. he’s played for the british and irish lions which is the biggest accomplishment you can get in rugby you have to be the elite of the elite. if he can learn the game he could be someone you look at in a few years who changed the game

Funny how apparently no one on this show knows that American Football came from Rugby

Chiefs be like... this winning Superbowls to easy.. let's try doing it with some rugby players!😂

I cannot say enough just how quick he is. His burst speed is amazing 24mph , he grew up watching nfl and his dad played for one of the only American football teams in Wales . He is also a real superstar in rugby. He was so disappointed by his 40 hard dash 4.43 was slow for him . Not only did he play for his country he also played for the lions (pro bowl type team) and has been player of the tournament (MVP)

I expected to hear he would be punting, they're gonna actually play him!? wow, gg

Love the shout to lacrosse athletes… Boston Connor put it well… football players up in the northeast typically play hockey and/or lacrosse in the winter and spring… lots of comparable skills as all are contact sports

I believe he's Irish
FFS do some research on your topic!!!
He's Welsh 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 🤦

4.45, I mean he is 6 foot 3 so it’s prolly a longer build up for the speed, but yeh he’s definitely top 5 in world rugby in terms of speed

He can be a special teams delight especially with schematics with new kick off rules

What a loss for the rugby world😢😢😢 This dude is a total stud, rugby needs to fix its money issues

And he’s a top top Rugby player, he’ll make an impact for sure!

Love these vids

I played football in the fall rugby in the spring… I found rugby made me a better tackler as I would stick and wrap no YAC when I made the play and when I played Oline had quicker feet and great for pulling because of the running I’d do in rugby ( played both ways)

Holy cow!! He is something else.

Look at highlights of Duhan van der merwe

It’s quite similar, just need to focus on his ball skills and ball security.

It’s not like it’s new multiple teams have done that over the years but they get cut everytime .

He will be great in open play. Be interesting to see him running behind a shield. Also the punt return will be more to his likeness. From a fellow Welshman sad to see him leave but buzzing for him.

KC wont regret it. He’s Welsh. Veach knows talent. He’ll break ankles on the screen and punt returns look out. Pacheco and Rees will murder defences on the running game. Puka Nucua type of player. There’s a lot of similarities in Rugby and NFL.

It’s not for a lack of physicality or speed etc, that makes it difficult for people outside the us to get into Football, it’s not being brought up playing it. It’s going to take someone a good while to understand just the lingo used in the game. Saying that, the lateral thing could be huge if done well. It’ll be interesting to see how he does.

Never understood this, sure both sports are “similar” enough but football is far different in terms of how you use your body, especially when u have pads and helmets.

Jim Brown said he was BEST at Lacrosse

When the conversation started about how much speed you lose when you put the pads on I just wanna ask again. I ask every year, why don't the guys wear pads at the combine? It'll affect the speed and the throwing and the catching (I assume)

Ok LRZ played junior football and his father played senior football in Cardiff hes Welsh not Irish you should interview him

The Chiefs just gained an extra 3.3 million fans in Wales, clever move

Wales are historically a power house in NH rugby! They currently sit on 40 six nations title, which is the joint most along with England. This year however they won the wooden spoon for finishing last, a first for over two decades. (One of their worst ever sides) Wales is one of three nations on the island of Britain, along with England and Scotland.

This guy has been running 4.2s in IPP. Had a shocker on pro day. Trust me he’s quick

I read "Rees Lightning" was clocked running 24.2 mph in a rugby match

His dad used to play American football...😊

“A properly jocked white?” Is that a think lmao 🤣

Id love to see this bring back the mid play drop goals.

209 @ 6'3" he a dang TE it's gonna be hard to bring him down without that hip drop.

The other big plus for Louis, coming from Rugby, will be his stamina. There is only one team in rugby. No attack team, defence team or special team. The players are on the pitch for 80 minutes, plus there is not so much start stop as there is with the NFL. He knows how to catch high kicks when under pressure, having also played full back as well as his normal position of wing. He's been an NFL fan since he was a kid because his father used to play the sport. He'll be familiar the rules and with a lot of the terminology, so won't be starting from scratch. As a rugby player his bread and butter is also making and receiving lateral passes. This guy can probably spin pass a ball for 25 yards whilst running pretty much full tilt. That opens up a huge range of possible trick plays for Andy Reid. However, my concern is the tackling is totally different in the NFL. In rugby, "no arm tackles" are illegal. A player must make an effort to wrap their arms when tackling; even when tackling from the front or side. The way the NFL players tackle a lot of the time, is by launching themselves low, full tilt at a players knees with their padded shoulders; hence why you often see players trying to hurdle over tacklers; and why so many NFL players have ACL injuries. His biggest assets are his blistering pace and his elusive running. If he has a bad ACL injury, it could mean the end for his NFL dream and the possibility of returning to rugby any time in the future. I'm Welsh and have been following the NFL since it was first shown on UK TV in the early 1980's. I'm gutted that Wales have lost our most exciting and creative player, but at the same time time excited that I might see him playing in the NFL.

The Chiefs have had problems getting into the end zone from under five yards. They had a horrible percentage in those situations this last year. I wonder what this guy brings to that table.

I legit thought that was Cecily Strong at first glance of the thumbnail.

Huge difference between 40 yard dash and top speed. A guy can have an insane 40 but a relatively average top speed and visa versa. That being said, i would expect his top speed to be 2-3 mph slower in full pads and the 40 time which was actually 4.43 is pretty average for a WR/RB is indicative that his acceleration is average for a NFL WR.

⚡️REES LIGHTNING ⚡️

Im here for it

Yeah He is essentially a Tyreek of rugby. Wing and full back or half back I forget the term the guy in the back of the rugby field are speed driven guys. I played in high school and I love the sport. Glad to see this I hope it goes well for him and the NFL. I think rugby players get screwed if they don't get signed by a team this will give them a secondary option.

Biggest difference with LRZ, although he wasn't the best on the international rugby stage, he has however performed at a far greater level than any of his rugby predecessors that transferred to the NFL.

I'm excited to see him play and how this signing impacts Mahomes and the Chiefs going
3-peat!

Biggest difference between Rugby Union players vs NFL players is NFL players are more specialists in their role, rugby players are trained for more all around skills. NFL player only plays half the game, rugby guys play both offense and defense and do not stop and reset after every play. It’s a much more fluid and continuous 80 mins of playing time.

A lot of respect for Louis on trying this chance at NFL considering the career he was having in rugby not a lot of well established player do that.

I'm surprised no-one mentioned the correlation with Deebo Samual. That's what he looks like to me

Its good for both sports that such a well known rugby player joining NFL cz its popularizing each sport to a different demographic NFL reaching a World audience and rugby making more inroads into the consciousness of North America.

Free SuperBowl.............No hate to Louis!! Absolute beast!! Go CHIEFS!!!

10.4 for the 100 meters from a standing start, no blocks, seems quick to me

Listening to these guys have no idea what rugby is at all ...

Seriously, these people are doing a podcast on this guy. How can they not know where he is from? Imagine an American football (soccer 🙄) player coming to Britain and saying he’s from Canada. Lazy, lazy journalism 🤮

Pulling for the kid. I'm a huge Chiefs fan and a 8 year rugby player back in the day. He's wearing my number as well.......14.

Why are you going on a one off stats at combinevhell if you went of combinecstats Tom Brady would never have played in NFL

My cousin Kelsey lives in Rugby😂

NFL teams should poach the top Rugby guys who play in the scrum, it's basically the trenches, those guys should be able to make the transition into NFL a lot easier
If you're 6-7 and built like a tank and play in the scrum, that should be an easy move

Name a great receiver who can't hoop lol

He will give American football much bigger appeal to the rugby world Gonna get you guys loads of clicks

AND he’s a champion… has a winners mindset and confidence. Reid designed plays for him? Heck yeah, worth a shot for that rookie contract.

Anthony Edwards was nice I hear

If you remove the hype, Rugby union is still so much more entertaining than NFL as rugby flows without stopping every few seconds. Yes! Says I a 49's fan

He runs so weird tho😂 those lil legs be zooming

“He’s a properly jacked white. And we appreciate that” 😂😂😂

Like the difference is immeasurable pads make him at 4.6 top and different athletes here let’s see him run across the middle

Rees Zammit is pretty fast but there are certainly faster pro rugby players

Jordan Mailata played rugby an is one of the top LT and has never played football prior too.

Don’t be surprised if he doesn’t play or even dress after preseason games… there’s so much to learn and as mentioned, the precedent for rugby to NFL isn’t convincing. However, if the guy contributes on new kickoffs/as a gadget weapon…. Veach/Reid look like geniuses

he looks good. the catching seems above average for sure.

Big Duhan van der Merwe will be next to come over... Bigger, stronger and nearly as fast..

YOU DIDN'T EVEN MENTION HE'S FASTER THAN TYREEK...

Hi.. I'm from South Africa, the most successful rugby nation.. In rugby there is a lot of guys that would be good.. Cheslin Kolbe, as a kick returner and punt returner, also a running back/ slot receiver.. Joe tuisova, just look at his highlights.. RB for sure.. Ardie Savea/PSDT as linebackers

Irish? Come on man, Why is it anyone from Europe is either Irish, English or German? Learn the history of your own nation and you’ll see it’s ridiculous how so few Americans knows about Wales.

This is going to be a McCaffery in a Chiefs uniform.

Never heard of him

other way around basketball translates to all other sports

I was BEST at Baseball but I LOVED football

It might be hard for him to not fumble.

I was hoping the rams and chargers signed him but of course the chiefs got him 😢

Hopefully this guy replaces Toney , James and Moore...just cut all 3 now

Im excited for zammit dammit lol lezt goat big boy see wat u got🎉

Thats good Pat, all the companies will love him, if this turns out well. The sport will expand and grow. Good move long term perspective. Like MJ #23 🏀 was essential to the Nba in the 90's.

He signed for 3 years

Daniel odongo wasn't good at rugby.. there's tons and tons of better players..

Great story but there is no chance this guy gets anywhere in the NFL

Woah! Irish , come on fella!

Here's why black basketball players & black track stars make it in the NFL: they have NFL speed and athleticism and the high-speed collisions that NFL running backs experience all of the time don't occur as frequently between defensive backs and wide receivers. Yeah, there are headhunters in the defensive backfields and there are line-backers who can put the muscle on a wide receiver, but the hits fullbacks and halfbacks take in the NFL are like being in a high-speed auto accident. I saw Darryl Stingley get hurt & I saw Jack Tatum play so wide receiver in the NFL is a full-contact sport carried out at Olympian speeds, but it's also only for skilled players who have super co-ordination and D1 track star speed. He'll be OK if he stays away from the kill zone between left offensive tackle and right offensive tackle.

I remember a couple years ago the 49ers brought some big time rugby star into training camp. I don’t remember ever seeing him actually play in a game.

I remember the 49ers did this and dude's skills did not translate.

perk and pat? ...mmmm make it happen ESPN!