Add Christian Wade to the list of professional rugby players who have tried to make it to the NFL.
The 27-year-old Wade, an Englishman who was a top rugby union player, is currently training both on the field and in a classroom in Florida at the IMG Sports Academy, trying to learn both the mental and physical side of American football.
Wade told Sky Sports News he would have had a better chance of making it if he had tried football when he was younger, but he’s serious about making it now.
“The odds are kind of against me making it into the NFL,” Wade said. “It is definitely the biggest challenge and the kind of things I have on my side is my ability to learn.”
A speedy 5-foot-8 and 190-pound athlete, Wade said he believes he can be a running back or punt returner in the NFL, although he acknowledged he needs to learn more about the sport.
“There was a day when out in Florida when we were doing classroom stuff and I was just getting everything wrong,” he said. “They were telling me to do all this stuff and I was thinking ‘no, I am pretty sure I learnt this last week and it’s supposed to be like this’. There have been times when I thought ‘oh what am I doing? This is going to be so hard, I am getting wrong and I thought I had this right’.”
Rugby players who have made it to the NFL have included Jordan Mailata, a rookie seventh-round draft pick who’s currently on injured reserve with the Eagles, and Jarryd Hayne, a running back and punt returner who played eight games for the 49ers in 2015. It’s not an easy path, but Wade is going to give it a go.
