To those of you who do not know, a Rugby superstar was taken by the San Francisco 49ers as a prospect.

In no way do I want to hate, but:

He is too slow- a 4.5 40yd (I ran better than that in HS)
He catches the ball with his body, not out stretched hands.
He has a language deficit in technical Football language
and everyone in the NFL is fast- and 70% are faster than this guy!!!

Sorry RUGBY, but you're hero is about to get blown up by the NFL!

OH and he runs upright like a target!

The padding leads to more violent collisions.

The NFL benefits from a few hundred years of terrible American history where a byproduct was genetic breeding. It's not even close. You could give a rugby coach 2 weeks with his choice of NFL players and they'd make the best rugby team in the world look stupid.

Emmitt Smith probably ran a 4.6 - 4.7 if you'd made him run on a Sunday morning before a game and he's the all time leading rusher.

They'd break the scoreboard in 20 minutes.

I just watched the dude's highlight reel. He's a baller for sure. But I'm sorry to break it to you, those dudes he is playing against are scrubs to the tenth power in comparison to what he's about to be facing.

I'll actually be rooting for him because it's a cool story.

There are high schools in Texas that would be harder for him to run through than that crap. Is that a real professional league that people pay to go watch? Can you guys get NFL Sunday Ticket in Australia? If so, you should get it. There are much fewer lumbering, slow white dudes with try hard looks on their faces.

Your crazy if you think NFL players aren't some of the biggest, strongest, fastest athletes in the world. They may not have the endurance of other sports such as soccer or rugby, but watch a defense get pounded for 4 quarters straight and tell me they dont have heart. I'll call you a liar, because I've done it.

Statistically speaking, you have a snowballs chance in H311 of making it to the NFL. These guys are literally the top 1% of athletes in the world.

Edit: also iirc football has the youngest average death age of any sport but boxing/mma. So I wouldn't call the pads "pussified."

Yet there is nfl world league to recruit from outside of america, and also apparently rugby. Does it make you upset that the nfl uses your favorite sport the same way they use their B-league?

Also, in terms of population, only two countries beat out the states; China and India. We probably have states with higher population than whatever island country you hail from.

I personally train Legs with a retired 27 year old CFL player. The man is 6'7 and 270lbs and easily under 10 percent body fat. I cannot imagine a CFL player in their trainning prime, let alone a NFL player!!!

Your Rugby boy hero is going to get ****** up

I be rooting for this downunder worlder, but he is slow, can not speak "the language of football", and catches the ball with his body and not his hands-rugby style.

Rugby tackling..lol!

, there will be some players who do not have "enough" to play in the NFL that will cross over-we have thousands of College players, that are bigger, stronger and a lot faster than any thing you guys have ever seen.

What do micheal jordan, tiger woods, micheal phelps, and bo jackson all have in common? They are all considered by many to be the greatest athletes to ever live. They are also all american. The only other country to even come close to producing the amount of great athletes that America has, is Russia. And even then I can only think of a couple boxers and gymnasts..

Reps at 225 is a poor metric for strength and isn't the least bit predictive of football success/likelihood of earning a roster spot.

P.S. I doubt the OP can run a properly timed 40 in 4.5. Chris Johnson ran in the mid 4.2s and was competitive in college with a guy who would later win a bronze medal in the 100 at the Olympics. The NFL uses an electronic start with a hand timed finish, by professional timers. A good rule of thumb is to add at least .2-.3 seconds to any hand timed 40...more if the person doing it is inexperienced.

Regarding your comment about Div I football players who attempted to play rugby at the highest levels, ~1.6% of Div I football players will make an NFL roster, so Div I football players are not very representative of the level of talent in the NFL.

Btw, bo jackson won back to back mvps from 2 different sports. Just beacuse you have not heard of him, doesnt make his achievement any less great.

Chris Johnson is a good point of comparison given that he has been timed both electronically and using the NFL hybrid method. He was ~.2 of a second slower in high school than an eventual Bronze medal winner in the 100m (he came in 4th at the state meet). Had he specialized in track rather than in football, he would have a decent chance of qualifying as an Olympic alternate or as a member of the 4x100. By any account, that is freakishly fast. Moreover, I repeat my assertion that NFL players have won ~20 gold medals in track and field events. There is no other league in the world that can make a similar claim.

. The fact that there is NFL Europe (used to be world league,) which yes is struggling, but exists.

If football was so unpopular in EU, why does the NFL have 2 regular season games in London every year, selling them out, with people coming from all over Europe to watch?

Don't be surprised if you see a London NFL team in the near future.

Combine times are for recruits and in no way represent NFL speed. Pro NFL speeds are off your graph, everyone in the NFL is fast 4.5 is slow!

Rugby is a fierce game. However, do not underestimate the sheer speed and size of an NFL player. They are larger and faster than the average rugby player. For the record, I think this rugby player is a fine athlete and may just very well stick in the NFL. He has the athletic ability to do so. His biggest hurdle will be learning new rules. The same would happen to an NFL player trying to play in rugby. Both would need to learn to adapt.