NFL seems so tough technically for someone to try it in his early/mid-20's for the first time and succeed.

Can't see him succeeding, and even if he does he might miss his mum too much

The Bunnies have said he's there purely to try something different re-training with their blessing.

The Giants are training him at the tight end position apparently. Sort of a cross between an offensive lineman and a wide receiver, in that you need to be able to block on running plays but also run routes and catch the ball. It's a highly technical position which would be a nightmare for someone with no background in the game to be able to learn to a point where you make it and get a starting job somewhere.

Will he be just as bored as Sam in union seeing only 5 plays a game?

Confusing one to me is league fans who dislike union for how stop start it is but like NFL. Some great athletes no doubt but can't watch it personally.

Isn't it just a fancy way for the lad to see abit more of the world and broaden his experiences. storm in a tea cup.

Did any of you actually read what Tom himself said? He likes nfl and if things fell into place would consider it at some future point.

Unsure why people are getting their knickers in a twist. There seems to be a bit of paranoia around at the moment.

And did you read the previous posts, can't see and knickers being twisted.

not a huge fan of it, but stumbled across a NFL special on sky sports about Cris Carter yesterday, unbelievable catching ability and awareness of the touchline (or whatever its called in american football)



[youtube3eMt16rXz7M[/youtube

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Carter's in the NFL Hall of Fame for a reason.

For a more up to date version with ridiculous catching skills, search that video site for Odell Beckham Jr.

That is of course your personal preference but the reason the game appeals so much to league fans is that the two games, at their core, a very, very similar whilst being a million miles apart.

Instead of six tackles to score, you have four tackles to gain a prescribed amount of yardage.

By the way, perspective is everything. Union fans consider rugby league to be far too stop start as a result of the play the ball. They consider Union far more "all action" because of the contest for possession rather than the play the ball. I don't agree with them but nor do I agree with your perspective of the NFL.

Completely appreciate your points Gareth. The ball in play stats are pretty eye opening though at around 50 mins in RL, 30 in RU and just 11 in NFL spread over 3 hours! I can appreciate the athleticism and skill required in all codes but the 'flow' of the latter 2 and the actual action with the ball in play, just don't do it for me.

i have bursts where I watch NFL games, I am always out in the U.S. for the playoffs early Jan. One of the guys I work with in the U.S. played at college with a few big names and the guys out there talk about it a lot. Mainly making fun of the U.S. Sales VP who is a Bears fan.
Our old VP of sales training was a linebacker with the Carolina Panthers and it's a tough world. Players dare not get injured, if you're just a squad player then you are binned. He lasted about 4 seasons which was pretty good by NFL standards.

I'm glad that there is a highlights package back on terrestrial TV, means I keep up to dat before I watch my one live game a year, the Superbowl.

Could do without Coldplay doing the half time slot, mind. It's hard enough staying awake at that time.

That's one of the things I think a lot of people don't know about the NFL. While there's a ridiculous amount of money swilling around for the very elite players, at the bottom end it's absolutely cut-throat.

You can be on a three year contract, but if you get a year in and the club want rid of you they can just bin you off. No paying up the remaining time on your contract, no having to get another club to take your contract on, you're just out of the door and unemployed.

There are some players who have come out of college with massive reputations, but are out of the NFL by their mid-20s because they just couldn't hack it. An absolutely ruthless environment for players.

Eh? I cannot claim to know the first thing about NFL contracts, but what sort of a "contract" is that?

If correct, I suppose zero hour contracts have finally reached the dizzy heights of American Football

Contracts are not "guaranteed". In other words, if you sign a player for five years at $100 million dollars and release that player after the first year he will have only earned $20 million.

There are rules in place to safeguard players if they are released for injuries.

The best players get a part of their contract guaranteed. So using the example above if the players negotiated half of his contract guaranteed and was released after year one he'd earn $50 million. That would put the club in a pickle with its salary cap which is why clubs only guarantee part of contracts for the best players who are just at or about to reach their peak.

Thanks for the explanation G1. That puts some pressure on the players (other than the superstar type) knowing you could be cut at any time with little or no notice.

...and every year in pre season there are new guys coming out of college desperate for a chance, plus a few hanging on to their careers by the fingernails.

IMO Hayne has already been marked as a dud in the NFL. He's kidding himself if he thinks he's got time to learn the game in the same way he would if he switched to RU for example. Next season he'll be starting from scratch, with no positive game time to provide him support, and will still be less experienced than everyone he's up against.

Kickers aside I'd say the message for wannabee NFL players is to move early, and ideally via college.

Boys will be boys is an interesting, entertaining, eye opening read www.amazon.com/Boys-Will-Be-Cowb ... 0061256811

Boys will be boys is an interesting, entertaining, eye opening read www.amazon.com/Boys-Will-Be-Cowb ... 0061256811

If that opinion was shared in San Francisco, he would have been cut rather than kept on the practice squad.

They clearly see something in him that they think they can work with. I'd be surprised if he didn't get another chance somewhere in pre-season next year. Up to him then whether he takes it or not.

As if the challenge wasn't difficult enough with 11 minutes of action a week shared between a squad of 50 players!

He'd help his cause if he caught the ball when it was kicked to him. It's a fundamental and he'll be lucky to see 1 minute of action until he addresses that.

Turnovers and possession are far more serious in the NFL than they are in Rugby of either code. Offensive players who drop the ball find themselves very quickly out of work.

I suppose with so little action and opportunities that errors are magnified more than league where there's more opportunities to regain territory and momentum. In those circumstances I guess that concentration is key for when you are called into action.

It's more a case of decision making under pressure as a punt returner.

As a full-back in league, you're pretty much expected to at least make an effort to catch everything that comes your way. You can almost operate on instinct the minute a ball goes in the air.

As an NFL punt returner you can choose to either catch the ball and return it, call for a "fair catch" which means the opposition can't hit you but you can't return the ball, or just let the ball go altogether if you think it's going into the endzone (which results in you getting the ball back on your 20m line).

You've got to do all that in about four seconds between the ball leaving the punter's foot and arriving at you, while scanning the chase bearing down on you and remembering the fundamentals of catching the thing in the first place. Get it wrong, and you're horribly exposed. Get it wrong and turn the ball over as a result, and as Gareth says you're likely unemployed pretty quickly.

It's not unknown for players to come from other sports and make it in the NFL. A number of good kickers have come from a football background, Reinaldo Nehemiah went from being an Olympic hurdler to an NFL wide receiver, Darren Fells at Arizona was a pro basketball player for four years before coming into the NFL. In skill positions though, it's a really small number which gives you an idea of the difficulty of Hayne's task.

Hayne's a spare body at very little cost. He was put on the waiver and nobody came in for him - hardly suggestive that the 49rs or any other team sees much in him at all.

I'd say his mistakes have been really bad from a coaches perspective - dropping the ball is bad enough, but doing it by going for kicks that a college player wouldn't go near is a real coach killer. Add to that his complete failure to read a blitz and dropping the ball under bog standard contact on a running play and its not hard to understand why he won't get picked unless the 49rs run out of bodies.

I'm yet to see any evidence for Hayne's trip benefitting RL at all. I can well see him having another dig via training camps next year, and the pattern very much following this season, or failing to even get a squad place. If that happens then the 'benefit' to RL will be one of the best players in the game missing two years of his prime years. Even if Hayne becomes an unlikely success then he's the only winner.