{"id":55336,"date":"2025-08-09T12:15:07","date_gmt":"2025-08-09T12:15:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/55336\/"},"modified":"2025-08-09T12:15:07","modified_gmt":"2025-08-09T12:15:07","slug":"surprise-suitors-join-race-for-louis-rees-zammit-after-failed-nfl-stint","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/55336\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Surprise suitors’ join race for Louis Rees-Zammit after failed NFL stint"},"content":{"rendered":"

Louis Rees-Zammit\u2019s announcement that he will be returning to rugby union after falling short of realising his NFL dream has sparked interest as to who he will sign for.<\/p>\n

In January last year, the Welshman made the shock decision to step away from rugby in order to join the NFL\u2019s International Player Pathway Program.<\/p>\n

He was picked up by the Kansas City Chiefs two months later after impressing at the NFL\u2019s IPP Pro Day trials, reportedly attracting interest from over 12 franchises.<\/p>\n

In August, his dream was thrown a lifeline when he was picked up by the Jacksonville Jaguars after being cut by the Chiefs and placed on the waivers.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s next for Louis Rees-Zammit<\/p>\n

Rees-Zammit<\/a> looked to be a step closer to making his NFL<\/a> debut when the Jaguars changed his roster status from Active to Exempt\/International Player.<\/p>\n

However, he failed to realise his dream, and earlier this month he announced that he would be returning to rugby.<\/p>\n

Several reports have suggested that Rees-Zammit is eager to sign a deal with the rebel R360 league that is scheduled to kick off in September next year. Four \u2018high-profile\u2019 Springboks have reportedly signed pre-contractual agreements with the organisers, snapping up rugby league stars too.<\/p>\n

\u2018Highest-profile\u2019 Springboks sign up for rebel league as R360 turn attention to Ardie Savea<\/a><\/p>\n

In the meantime, the Welshman<\/a> has attracted interest from four clubs. His former employers, Gloucester, are understood to be one of the teams as are fellow Premiership clubs Bristol Bears and Newcastle Falcons.<\/p>\n

However, according to Rugby Pass, Welsh region Cardiff \u201care the surprise suitors in the battle\u201d for his signature. The report adds that Rees-Zammit is seeking a one-year deal with a view to joining R360 if it comes to fruition in 2026.<\/p>\n

Cardiff do have the likes of Josh Adams, Theo Cabango and Iwan Stephens on their books ahead of next season, but have seen Regan Grace and Gabriel Hamer-Webb depart.<\/p>\n

Rugby transfers: Springboks snub heads abroad while South African props attract interest and ex-All Blacks star seals Super Rugby return<\/a><\/p>\n

With Red Bulls reportedly taking over Newcastle, the club can flex its newfound fortunes, but apparently won\u2019t do so on the speedster simply because he is available.<\/p>\n

Instead, the report has lock, fly-half and scrum-half as the club\u2019s priority positions of recruitment and have targeted All Blacks number nine Finlay Christie.<\/p>\n

Elsewhere, it is reported in Japan that former Wales head coach Warren Gatland will take over as the head coach of the Urayasu D-Rocks, landing his first job since parting ways with the Welsh Rugby Union.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:\u00a0Warren Gatland pips ex-Springbok to land first full-time gig after Wales sacking<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Louis Rees-Zammit\u2019s announcement that he will be returning to rugby union after falling short of realising his NFL…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":55337,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,45840,818,1182,33445,44,760,85,2356,2957,12812],"class_list":{"0":"post-55336","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-cardiff-rugby","11":"tag-home-page","12":"tag-internationals","13":"tag-louis-rees-zammit","14":"tag-news","15":"tag-rugby","16":"tag-sports","17":"tag-transfers","18":"tag-usa","19":"tag-wales"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55336","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55336"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55336\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/55337"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55336"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55336"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55336"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}