NFL insider breaks down why Kansas really released Louis Rees-Zammit

Louis Rees-Zammit's bid to make the Kansas City Chiefs' 53-man roster, or even make their practice squad, was scuppered by his inability to learn one very specific facet of American football, according to Kansas City Star journalist Jesse Newell.

Joining Anthony Wootton on The TransAtlantic Sports Show recently, Newell said that the former Wales wing struggled with his pass protection, which was perhaps the leading reason why the Super Bowl champions released him, with the Jacksonville Jaguars picking him up for their practice squad instead.

While Rees-Zammit's athleticism has been lauded by many, including Chiefs head coach Andy Reid, this is a technical area of American football that a career in rugby would not have helped with.

Having watched the Chiefs' training sessions closely throughout pre-season, Newell explained how the Welshman struggled with a particular pass protection drill. Moreover, he explained on the podcast how Rees-Zammit slipped down the pecking order as the training camp progressed.

"I was not surprised he didn't make the 53-man roster," he said.

"You could kind of see it coming throughout training camp, and we're out there every single day at training camp. You know, the team practices with its top guys, then they have a second team, and then they have a third team and a fourth team. So earlier on, Louis was getting in with maybe the second and third team. As the practice went along, he was getting in with the third and fourth team.

"So it's kind of the truth serum of the coaches, if you will. If those guys at the end of the roster are practicing against the other guys at the end of the roster, it sort of seems like it’s a long shot for them to make the team. Throughout this whole process, though, the Chiefs coaches have complimented Louis for his work. We loved talking to him in the media because he's a really engaging guy. He seemed to really commit himself to this and seemed to be serious about this, which is something that needs to happen to make the transition that he's trying to make to a completely different sport.

"But I think as it went along, one of the kind of glaring moments was - I think what the Chiefs wanted from Louis is, here in the NFL, there’s a very specific role on third down where if you can have a back out of the backfield who can pass protect for your quarterback and then also catch passes out of the backfield, that’s a role that every single team needs in the NFL.

"But you have to be able to pass protect, and there was a pass protection drill that Louis did a couple of weeks ago, and one of the linebackers just kind of ran right over him because he doesn’t understand the technique yet, he doesn’t understand the leverage. So he’s a big guy, but he doesn’t understand sort of the nuances that will help him to stop this 250-pound guy coming straight at you and protect your quarterback.

"So I think the Chiefs were hopeful that this thing would come together very quickly. They were hopeful that he would learn all these things and could potentially play a role for them in that area as a third-down back and then on special teams as well—you know, the kickoffs, punt returns, all those sorts of things. It just didn’t come quite fast enough. And so I was not surprised he was cut from the 53-man roster. I was a little bit more surprised by what happened later this week with him joining a different team."

Newell added an additional reason why the Chiefs passed on signing Rees-Zammit to their practice squad, which is the position they find themselves in heading into the new season.

The Chiefs are in pursuit of a historic Super Bowl treble this season and are effectively only interested in the here-and-now rather than looking further down the line at a project.

"I think the Chiefs seemed to see potential in him," he added. "But potentially where the fit didn’t make sense is that this might be a better guy to have if you’re not a Super Bowl contender. If you are not a team that’s worried about winning right away... I mean, the Chiefs are so far on the other end of that spectrum right now—they’re going for the first three-peat in NFL history.

"So it might not be about two or three years down the line what you can get out of a guy. It might be more about how can this team, or this guy on the practice squad, help your team this year to potentially go win another Super Bowl and make history that’s never been done before."

Given that the Jacksonville coach Doug Pederson is a "disciple" of Reid's, Newell thinks the Jaguars could be a good fit for Rees-Zammit, although he stressed that the biggest challenge now is to learn an entirely new playbook.

The Jaguars get their NFL campaign underway on Sunday September 8 against the Miami Dolphins.