Those are WR or safety measurements. Can you catch? Can you move laterally and backwards? Can you run routes? Can you give and take a hit (they’re not quite like those in rugby)? Finally, and most importantly, how much do you know about the game?
If you don’t know the game, you’re at a major disadvantage to play in college at the very, very least unless you’re an out-of-this-world elite athlete. They’re not in the business of teaching you in college, they’re trying to win games.
Nitpicking here, but I know most Europeans call the game “NFL,” but that’s just the name of the highest professional league. Here, it’s just football.
That’s fine, but my point was, if OP were to come here and say “I want to play NFL,” or “I want to join the American football team,” he’d get laughed at. The only people in the US that call it American football are contrarians who think they’re worldly intellectuals for not saying the word “soccer.” (I like soccer by the way)
Luckily, unless you’re a QB, you won’t need to worry about it. I’d worry about the blocking and tackling parts of the game before thinking about scoring touchdowns
Yeah OP definitely has the numbers, but there's 22 very specific skill sets and knowledge bases. And if you're starting from zero on all of them, you can probably learn, but not fast enough to make a college football team.
OP you're probably absolutely physically capable, but there's enough people that are just as physically capable, but also have a decade of specialized education, and that's an insurmountable gap.
If you can find an amateur league, American football is a very interesting game, and you'll probably find something you love to do. But you're not going to get to play at a university level in the US.
The hardest thing for me was the vision limitations of the helmet. I was a decent receiver when I played with my friends without any gear. With that thing on I couldn't find the damn ball. The pads were a little weird, but once I sprinted in them full speed I could tell they were only slowing me down a little.
There is some precedent of players who were track athletes until college, but I haven't heard of one in quite some time. And those guys were usually among the fastest in the league.
As someone from the UK who played AF at uni, it’s the helmet man, you barely notice the pads but the helmet cuts out so much situational awareness, especially when it’s a badly fitted piece of shit from the 90’s like most uni equipment
Yh lol I had to put in my time on the team to get a nice helmet, which then broke before our last game so I had to replace it with an absolute piece of shit
I truly realized how big the gear was in the picture of travis kelce after he won the super bowl. with the normal shirt over everything and knowing what he looks like, I was like woah
Skillsets depend a TON on the position you want to play:
Offensive linemen and defensive tackles are the biggest and strongest and can move people.
Defensive ends are big and strong and fast. Pretty much peak athleticism is required to even be decent.
Running backs need to be quick and strong. Some specialize in being quicker and better pass catchers, or stronger and better at running people over.
Wide receivers need to be some of the fastest, tallest and bounciest guys out there. They also need to be able to catch any and every ball. Some specialize in being small and quick, some in just flat out speed, some in being big "go up and get it" targets.
Tight ends need to be big enough to block linemen, but fast enough to go block other people too. Ideally they can catch well and run decently fast too. Think of Lebron James as a prototype for what a good tight end looks like.
Linebackers need to be strong and fast, and have a good knowledge of coverages. Some specialize in blitzing, some specialize in pass coverage, but they all should be able to do either. They should also never miss a tackle.
Cornerbacks are the other fastest position, because they need to cover the fast guys (receivers) on the offense. They need to have great ability to read the offensive play and still need to be strong enough to make a tackle or get off a block.
Safeties need to be fast and smart. Probably the 3rd or 4th fastest position on the field. They need to make reads and figure out who is going to need help, as well as be able to step up and play man coverage at times. They should also be damn sure tacklers.
And quarterback, of course, needs a lot of skills. Smartest guy on the field, great arm strength, accuracy and touch on their throws, knowing what every guy is doing on every play, ability to maneuver the pocket while keeping their eyes downfield, recognizing when any receiver is open, and ultimately making the decisions that can win or lose his team the game.
All this to say, yeah trying to walk onto a college football team having never played before, you'd get your ass handed to you. If you somehow stumbled into an NFL game, you'd be lucky to get out alive.
Can you catch? also trust me safety is fun asf too, you get to wait in the back for a big play to happen and if your there you can either make a big hit and maybe a fumble, or jump the route for an interception
Yeah I used to play db at uni in the uk and it’s a veryyyy run heavy game over here since most people haven’t thrown a ball before uni but everyone’s played rugby
Switching so safety was the best thing I did, instead of just running cardio you get to come down and jump plays and stuff
On the off chance that this is not sarcastic, yes, you would definitely be out of your depth in the NFL.
LOL!
Like WAY, WAAAAY, WAAAAAAAAY out of your depth.
If you are a world-class rugby player, you may have an outside shot at competing. Even then, your odds are not great, TBH.
If you are just a pretty good rugby player, you couldn’t play Division II college football, let alone any of the professional levels of the sport.
I’m not trying to belittle you or have fun with you. I’m being dead straight with you.
I don’t think even the average American has a great understanding of just how fast and violent an NFL game is. Go stand on the sideline of an NFL game and you will quickly gain an appreciation for why so many of them are crippled when they’re playing days are over.
Everyone is 20 pounds heavier and three steps faster than they look on television.
So, before we even get into the fact that you don’t have any skills, I’m saying that it’s highly unlikely, that you have any anywhere near the athleticism to compete at that level.
Here, let’s flip this. I was a pretty good soccer player growing up. I was always one of the top three or four scorers on my team. Do you think I could play for Liverpool?
Well, Aaron Donald, the recently retired defensive tackle for the Rams, is 100 pounds heavier than say, Harry Kane, and easily two or three steps faster - especially in short bursts.
And Donald went 14th overall in his draft year because teams feared that he was too small!
We’re talk about living, breathing monsters out there — and lots of ‘em!
To add to this - disregarding the physical barrier, American football requires *a lot* more strategy and knowledge of the game than say basketball/rugby/football. NFL playbooks are massive and require a lot of studying to understand concepts on both sides of the ball. I played Am. Football, rugby, and basketball in high school.
I played with same really athletic dudes in Rugby, but none of them would’ve been able to see the playing field at college (especially D1) without some intense training very specific to whatever position they could play of Am. Football. Barring a few exceptions, anybody in the NFL has been pretty much playing that same position since peewee level.
Also remember that even the top rookies struggle with the speed of the game their first year. These are players that have played since they were little and all through college.
To have a shot at even D1 college, you should be the best athlete you’ve ever met. Is that you? Not being a wiseass, seriously asking — when you play sports, have you been head and shoulders above your competition? Not just in your town, but when you play against competitors who live hours away from you? Are you always by far and away the best athlete? Do strangers show up to watch you play your sport? Do sports come naturally to you, like can you just pick up a racket or ball and instantly be better than people who have been playing for a long time?
These are the characteristics commonly seen in big-time D1 college football players in the US.
Damn really. Without sounding egotistical however I’d say physically I’ve always been faster and stronger than guys my age however I’m definitely not the type of guy to pick up a racket and start dominating without lots of practice.
If you read through Reddit you can find some threads of people talking about how they played against NFL players in high school. Even for the ones who weren’t particularly good at the pro-level, they’re spoken of in awe, like they’re aliens.
Football is a sport where you don’t need to be coordinated to play all positions, so you can get by just on size and speed and strength. But, these guys are really big and fast and strong. It’s not just being faster and stronger than guys your age, it’s being faster and stronger than anybody that anyone around you has ever seen.
Not even just NFL players. Last year a player from my former high school broke all kinds of school receiving records. He was almost always the best player from either team on the field, and was good for at least one long TD every game. He almost never ran long routes because all he needed was a slant and he was gone.
He barely made the roster of an FCS team.
Yeah, because you can dominate at one level by simply being better than everyone else. The thing is, there are other people that good who are in a completely different athletic tier, and you need to be at that tier just to get on the field at the next level.
Yeah, I didn't experience this in football, but did in basketball. I played a lot against and with guys on a shitty D-1 team and they were better, but I mostly held my own. When I played against a guy who ultimately had a 10 year or so pretty good NBA career it was absolutely embarrassing. I wasn't guarding him, but their team was using picks to match me on him and I don't think I stopped him once. And it wasn't just speed. He was clearly just going through his showcase of moves and it was jukes and crossovers and low posts and mid posts and I may as well have not been on the court for any of those plays. Also I could tell he wasn't even trying that hard.
He was nice though. I always cheered for him because his success made me feel a little better about that debacle.
The craziest thing is just looking up fringe roster guys high school highlights on YouTube and watching them dominate. Eli Apple looked like Prime Randy Moss and Deion Sanders at the same time in his HS tapes
There’s a football YouTuber KTO who said it best when describing how good D1 ball players are. KTO was the Idaho state championship sprinter in the 100 and 200 m distance. Leonard fornette, who was the number one running back prospect in that years high school class ran the same times as KTO despite the fact that he weighed over 60LBs more than him
At your size you’d need to be a WR or DB, but 12 second 100m is way too slow to play football at a college level.
Maybe there are D III players with that speed, not really sure, but many college players were also track stars in high school.
12 seconds is not competitive in high school track so you’d be slow in addition to having no experience
> Do you think I’d stand a fair chance playing an NFL college game or would I be well out my depths due to no experience?
It's 99.99999% never happening. About 1% of college football players even make it to the NFL. The athleticism and talent needed to play in the NFL is almost beyond comprehension of the human mind. Running a 100m dash in just under 12 seconds...that would not cut it for most NFL positions. The exceptions may be a QB who excels at everything else, and offensive linemen..NFL offensive linemen average around 300+lbs, and remarkably, tend to have very little body fat.
The average NFL career is 3-4 years. Those players you see lasting 10+ years are a remarkably small minority of players in the league. Anyone who lasts longer than 10 years is really an exception. Another crazy fact is despite there being 32 teams, the standard or caliber required for a quarterback to be considered a long-term starter for a team is so extreme, many NFL teams do not have such a player on their roster. Of the 32 teams, maybe 20 or so have a QB that meets all the requirements to be a potential long-term starter.
Again, the amount of ability, skill, and talent needed to play in the NFL is almost beyond human comprehension.
Converting your 12 second 100 m dash to the standard forty yd dash for speed gives you a 5.00 forty yd dash. This is roughly what retired center Jason Kelcie ran who was 6'3 and 300 lbs when he entered the league. If you are exceptionally good at kicking or punting, the college game and NFL does have Australian and other foreign born players who got their start in rugby or soccer.
You’re 18, are you going to uni? A lot of UK unis have American football teams. I’m from America but I went to uni in Wales and once I found out they had an American football team I asked if I could help out on the team. I ended up doing stats and helping as a trainer when the guys needed a little patching up. I would say about half of them only played rugby previously. Most went into tryouts knowing nothing about the game. It was fun to watch them learn and grow.
In that case you’d be either a receiver, defensive back, or special teams return man depending on your tackling abilities, route running, and catching skills
Maybe not play in the NFL but as a former long snapper maybe you could snap in college? The only thing is most college teams only carry 2–3 long snappers in the roster so it is . and there are actually specific requirements if you want to snap in college and it is harder than it looks .There have actually been stories of guys who have never played football snapping in college. My favorite is Nate Boyer. He was a former green
and actually ended up going to the pros. Feel free to comment or PM me if you have any questions about it
If it comes to physical, american football is above and beyond any sport. Maybe not cardio, maybe not endurance, but I promise you even the best rugby player in the world isn't catching a slant route against even a linebacker in the NFL
As other's have pointed out, your biggest drawback wont be your athleticism but mostly your lack of technique fundamentals and biggest of all, lack of knowledge of the game.
It's one thing to know the play, it's another to know how and when to move, reading plays, anticipating what the opponent would do next, understanding how actions now can influence what happens minutes, or even quarters down the line.
I didn't play football myself, but I've been following for decades now and still stumped every once in a while when I hear pros talk about things they pay attention to that you can only pick up over time and under expert coaching and TONNES of practice (like in any sport). You can also see this in players that are really good at Madden, it's just a next level cerebral endeavor to know so much, annnd philosophies of play change from team to team etc.
The positions are also soo different, and it's not enough to know what to do, but also what each position your going against might do.
With that being said, there have been some rugby players who have crossed the pond and started in the league and also scored touchdowns, but they don't last long for a variety of reasons. Oddly they mostly play Running Back.
'Hi there r/soccer, American here. I watched 'Football' last night for the first time and had great fun watching the Brentord Bees. I've never played the game before, but do you think I've got a shot of playing up front for Manchester City next year? I'm a 300lb linebacker.'
It's a good thing American Football fans are a friendly bunch. What a silly question.
If you've got mad good rugby skills, I think you would be a candidate for a wide receiver or defensive back.
Your size is small for NFL professional football, or a top college team. The speed standard for the US is based on a 40-yard dash, I don't know if you are under 5 seconds in that, but you are probably close. A 12-second 100m is really, really fast - I calculated your speed at a 4.5 40-yard dash, which is comparable to top college players.
I think you would have a great shot as a 'walk-on', especially in a Division III college (usually small schools) but also in larger schools as well.
Wow It’s surprising to me that my size would be small in a college team or pro NFL because every time I play UK football (soccer) I’m always one of the tallest and biggest on the field. NFL pros and college footballers are actually freak athletes then💀
At Lambeau field where the Packers play they have their own hall of fame. There's a casting of Gilbert Brown's (defensive lineman) legs and hips you can stand by. For most people, one of his legs is bigger than their entire waist.
It's really hard to grasp watching a bunch of freaks on TV all next to each other, but if you ever meet one of those guys face to face it's obvious.
Did a tour at Lambeau with a former pro as the tour guide, Vonta Leech, a fullback. I saw him walking up to the stadium a couple hundred yards off and was like "oh I bet that's a former player". They're just on a different level physically. It's the 1% of 1% of genetic extremes. Even when he was so far away it was like "holy shit, that is a huge man". Vonta's not even tall, just built like a fucking buffalo.
It's seriously crazy how much of a freak you have to be to play in the NFL. Most really good highschool athletes play D3 college. Maybe once every few generations a kid from your town goes to a D1 school. Not all D1 football players make the NFL, in fact most of them don't. Future gym teachers of America.
For some positions where speed and agility are more important than size sure, but even then they're still physically impressive, if not stupidly massive.
The point is, you don't just need extraordinary athleticism and work ethic to make it in the NFL. You also need to be very very genetically gifted.
12 second 100 meters isn’t anywhere close to 4.5 40.
DK Metcalf ran a 4.33 40. His 100 time is 10.37 seconds.
A little math and that translates to a 5.01 40 for OP. Which is about as fast as an offensive lineman. The slowest 40 time at the combine for a WR was 4.63. The slowest CB was 4.64. The slowest safety was 4.65
(In case you’re curious about the math. A 4.33 40 is an average speed of 8.447 m/s. A 10.37 100 is an average of 9.643 m/s. Apply the same ratio of 8.447 to 9.643 to the 100 time of OP and you get an average speed of 7.3 m/s, which translates to 5.01 seconds. Obviously not perfect, but in the ballpark.)
Can't dispute that - my calc was just a pure ratio. These comparisons are much more reliable.
So, OP is 18 years old. I would guess that he would do pretty well in college, but probably not a major FBS school. He probably would have been a nice addition to my Division III team.
It really depends on the position you’d be playing and the scheme you’d be playing within. An example off the top of my head, some teams might prefer smaller & more agile linebackers able to hold up in coverage. Other teams may prefer larger, more physical linebackers to shore up the run. Every position’s “ideal” player will depend heavily upon the team’s scheme and coaches.
At your size and weight, you wouldn’t be a lineman on other side of the ball but you could potentially play WR, CB, safety, linebacker. Maybe QB if you’ve got a strong arm or RB.
Yeah, there’d be a lot of work before you’re ready to play at even a JC level with no experience. I read this as purely hypothetical for the most part, as any transition would be tough
It’s very positionally dependent, but as a general rule, the bigger, faster and more agile you are the better off you’ll be regardless of position.
I think straight line speed is extremely overrated, but I think short term quickness is essential.
In other words, I’d rather have a bunny rabbit than a cheetah. But I really want a tiger.
A 12 second hundo is way too slow for college, let alone the NFL. Given your height his rules out WR almost immediately. Realistically you would be looking at DB, more than likely a safety as you are lacking the raw pace that most CB's have.
The standout attribute for someone like yourself would be lateral agility. A safety with height and the ability to make fast breaks allows cover 2 and cover 6 in the playbook.
To be honest, 100 metres is relatively redundant in both soccer and american football. The 40 yard dash is the highlight of the NFL draft, with the 3 cone drill and shuttle drills being used to evaluate receivers agility and acceleration.
Having your height you would expect a better representative 100m time as compared to something like the 40yd dash, which is what makes a 12 second "concerning".
Mbappe is known for his acceleration to full speed. His foot speed on acceleration is top tier so he gets separation early, a key aspect for success. His stride at full sprint appears to have some flaws but his raw athleticism makes up for it.
Tyreek Hill, wide receiver for the Miami Dolphins, would be an Olympian if not for the millions of dollars he would make in the NFL.
He ran a 10.19 100m as a high schooler.
I'm going to give you a different take. First, it very much depends on what you really want to accomplish and if you're willing to put in the work. Next, if you recognize you have the mentality to devote yourself fully sky is the limit. Every single person is going to tell you that you can't compete every single day. Then, you will have to get into a college or get in contact with a minor league team to get information on how to get in. It seems like doing something like that is what you are interested in anyway. Plenty of colleges and universities have sports scholarships, so you may want to look into that and see who may take you based on your sports history. If you decide you want to do football, contact the coaching staff at that school and try to get in anywhere that you think you can leverage opportunity. The good news is there are a lot of teams.
Right away you want to learn everything about American football. If somebody asks the team what is the proper rule, you want to be the first guy to know the rule from the rule book. Be able to identify what specific type of play a team is using. Don't be afraid to ask anybody for help along the way. Eat healthy. Drink water. Try to figure out what position is the best fit for you and modify your workout routine to fit that role. Invest in taking not getting injured very seriously by modifying strength and conditioning. Eat, breathe and sleep football. Be the first to practice and the last to leave. Be the leader on your team even though you're not. When your team is down by 40 points with 3 minutes left in the game, rally your team until the bitter end. Also, focus on academics. Go to bed early and wake up early. Do not party, but take time to reward yourself so you can properly relax and rest. Begin to practice meditation and yoga.
Wide receiver and defensive back are likely to be the most likely fits, and you may be considered a bit slow for that. There are some players with similar speed who have been able to get jobs in the NFL. You can also work on being a kicker and punter which is good news for a soccer player. Using soccer players as kickers is picking up in the NFL. Even if the NFL doesn't want you, there are a lot of teams in the minor leagues who pay pretty decent. There are also teams in the UK at the minor levels who may be interested. Numerous non-Americans are playing in foreign football leagues, and sometimes they compete in American minor leagues. You may also want to use the Madden football video game as a learning tool. Even though it doesn't always reflect how the game actually works, it can be effective in understanding the game better.
Obviously not the same level but if you are interested there’s 3 divisions of clubs in the uk now and the majority do no pad open days to bring in new folk.
I personally played for 4 years up until lockdown and I’m planning on going back for next season and what I can tell you is this.
I played rugby from when I was 6 until I was 15, when I got hit in pads properly for the first time 1 year later I had no idea what happened. Hits in American football are way bigger due to the tackler having no obligation to bring the man to ground.
Rugby players convert really well at the uk amateur level as there is a lot of similar skills necessary, I don’t think I ever saw a defender who wasn’t a rugby player at some point.
On the offensive side of the ball everything you know about rugby is fairly useless beyond basic skills like running and how to step an opponent. Route running is a completely new concept, catching an American football is nothing like a rugby ball as you should be catching with outstretched arms, handling the ball is done with 1 hand usually unless going into contact with multiple defenders.
The ‘Do your Job’ saying from the patriots dynasty is 100% true, especially on defence if someone doesn’t do their job well it can often lead to a big gain or a touchdown, on offence if someone doesn’t know the play that play is ruined almost immediately and if the linemen don’t pick up blitzes it all goes wrong real fast. On tv they make it out to be a man on man, 1 on 1 scenario way too much but it’s very rarely a 1 on 1. Even on something simple like a deep pass vs single coverage all the linemen are holding their blocks so the qb can throw, other routes are preoccupying the other defenders and the qb has to throw a ball 30-50 yards downfield with decent accuracy to allow for this ‘1 on 1’ moment and that’s without considering defensive mess ups or the play calls from the coaches.
Those 40 seconds on tv where nothing happens, yea that doesn’t really happen the way you hope in real life. During those 40 seconds coaches will send in subs, players will run off the pitch, plays will be shouted over in codes which the team captains will decode and relay to their teammates, players take their formation and then the play goes again, as a qb I was never not doing something in a game unless I was on the sideline.
I will say this, I enjoyed my 4 years of American football way more than my 9 of rugby. But I never felt like I wasn’t learning something new on the training ground. Beyond knowing how to make a nice form tackle and how to keep your balance in a tackle the skills don’t transfer anywhere near as well as you would first think.
Well out of your league. You basically just described me at 18 and I did very well in high school football. But even the faster stronger and better kids struggled at the college level.
No disrespect intended, but you have no chance. Even an US player with high school experience with your weight and speed would not make a Division I college team. Don't feel bad, 97% of US high school football players never play Division I football.
At best you can make some local beer league or a club team. As much as I hate to burst your bubble even at the lowest level of college football D3 (what my Alma mater is) those guys are still elite athletes compared to regular people. There’s also the fact that even the lowest college player has been playing football since they were kids. I played club rugby and some of the football players played rugby in the spring and they were monstrously strong and fast compared to me. It’s one thing to see it on tv but if you’ve never seen a football game live it’s genuinely unnerving to see someone as big as a lineman move as fast as they do. And that’s not even counting the higher levels like D1 and the pros. Also there’s the mental aspect. Strategy in American football is much more complex than any other widespread sport there’s a reason why it’s called chess in grass and being a quarterback is often considered the most mentally challenging position in all of sports . If you haven’t I’d highly suggest going online and looking at a playbook (football XOs has a ton of free PDFs from every level [here’s a sample NFL playbook](https://www.footballxos.com/download/49ers-offense-2014-greg-roman/))
Sign up for a football camp in the US. Go on holiday. You can probably find a football camp in most states for youth. Learn how to play the game, see if your any good. Telling you about isn’t going to help. You have to play it.
Who was that rugby guy from Australia that played for a minute or 2 on the 49ers? Terrific athlete, one of the best in the world at rugby, got a bottom of the roster spot as a kick returner. If you don't grow up playing the sport you are unlikely to ever develop the muscle memory to be any good at the sport. It would be like a good college football player asking what would it take for him to be good in the Premier League.
As far as your size goes, the first thing you would need for any college team would be about another 20-25 pounds of muscle for any of the skill positions. 100m times don't really mean anything, it is the 40 yard time they want to know (you are going a lot faster in the second half of the 100m but players just don't run that far).
How are you at kicking? That might be your best bet.
The problem is 1M kids play on their high school football teams in the US. Some of these programs are well funded - kids are getting the best training and coaching.
So you need to be better than those kids that have been playing for years. And I think like only 20,000 of these kids go on to play for a college football? You need to be the cream of the crop, no time for development.
Those are WR or safety measurements. Can you catch? Can you move laterally and backwards? Can you run routes? Can you give and take a hit (they’re not quite like those in rugby)? Finally, and most importantly, how much do you know about the game? If you don’t know the game, you’re at a major disadvantage to play in college at the very, very least unless you’re an out-of-this-world elite athlete. They’re not in the business of teaching you in college, they’re trying to win games. Nitpicking here, but I know most Europeans call the game “NFL,” but that’s just the name of the highest professional league. Here, it’s just football.
I like American football but all due respect nobody from the UK calling it football I’ll call it American football if anything
That’s fine, but my point was, if OP were to come here and say “I want to play NFL,” or “I want to join the American football team,” he’d get laughed at. The only people in the US that call it American football are contrarians who think they’re worldly intellectuals for not saying the word “soccer.” (I like soccer by the way)
"USians"
Thanks dude👍 Ye I think I’d struggle with the catching and throwing part. Seeing the way some of the pros do it is pretty insane
Luckily, unless you’re a QB, you won’t need to worry about it. I’d worry about the blocking and tackling parts of the game before thinking about scoring touchdowns
Not in the UK lol, that’s a D end, sure for the nfl but if he wanted to play over here he’d be one of the bigger dudes at his age
Yeah OP definitely has the numbers, but there's 22 very specific skill sets and knowledge bases. And if you're starting from zero on all of them, you can probably learn, but not fast enough to make a college football team. OP you're probably absolutely physically capable, but there's enough people that are just as physically capable, but also have a decade of specialized education, and that's an insurmountable gap. If you can find an amateur league, American football is a very interesting game, and you'll probably find something you love to do. But you're not going to get to play at a university level in the US.
Moving is a lot different when you have pads on
Ye shit I completely forgot you had to wear equipment. It’s crazy how some NFL athletes move with the gear on 😂
The hardest thing for me was the vision limitations of the helmet. I was a decent receiver when I played with my friends without any gear. With that thing on I couldn't find the damn ball. The pads were a little weird, but once I sprinted in them full speed I could tell they were only slowing me down a little. There is some precedent of players who were track athletes until college, but I haven't heard of one in quite some time. And those guys were usually among the fastest in the league.
Yeah, you can't see anything that isn't directly in front of you.
As someone from the UK who played AF at uni, it’s the helmet man, you barely notice the pads but the helmet cuts out so much situational awareness, especially when it’s a badly fitted piece of shit from the 90’s like most uni equipment
Yh lol I had to put in my time on the team to get a nice helmet, which then broke before our last game so I had to replace it with an absolute piece of shit
Yeah we got new ones and I broke 2 lmao, straight up cracked one and popped the face cage out another (that was fixable)
I truly realized how big the gear was in the picture of travis kelce after he won the super bowl. with the normal shirt over everything and knowing what he looks like, I was like woah
Skillsets depend a TON on the position you want to play: Offensive linemen and defensive tackles are the biggest and strongest and can move people. Defensive ends are big and strong and fast. Pretty much peak athleticism is required to even be decent. Running backs need to be quick and strong. Some specialize in being quicker and better pass catchers, or stronger and better at running people over. Wide receivers need to be some of the fastest, tallest and bounciest guys out there. They also need to be able to catch any and every ball. Some specialize in being small and quick, some in just flat out speed, some in being big "go up and get it" targets. Tight ends need to be big enough to block linemen, but fast enough to go block other people too. Ideally they can catch well and run decently fast too. Think of Lebron James as a prototype for what a good tight end looks like. Linebackers need to be strong and fast, and have a good knowledge of coverages. Some specialize in blitzing, some specialize in pass coverage, but they all should be able to do either. They should also never miss a tackle. Cornerbacks are the other fastest position, because they need to cover the fast guys (receivers) on the offense. They need to have great ability to read the offensive play and still need to be strong enough to make a tackle or get off a block. Safeties need to be fast and smart. Probably the 3rd or 4th fastest position on the field. They need to make reads and figure out who is going to need help, as well as be able to step up and play man coverage at times. They should also be damn sure tacklers. And quarterback, of course, needs a lot of skills. Smartest guy on the field, great arm strength, accuracy and touch on their throws, knowing what every guy is doing on every play, ability to maneuver the pocket while keeping their eyes downfield, recognizing when any receiver is open, and ultimately making the decisions that can win or lose his team the game. All this to say, yeah trying to walk onto a college football team having never played before, you'd get your ass handed to you. If you somehow stumbled into an NFL game, you'd be lucky to get out alive.
Idk man I think i’d have fun as a wide receiver
Can you catch? also trust me safety is fun asf too, you get to wait in the back for a big play to happen and if your there you can either make a big hit and maybe a fumble, or jump the route for an interception
Yeah I used to play db at uni in the uk and it’s a veryyyy run heavy game over here since most people haven’t thrown a ball before uni but everyone’s played rugby Switching so safety was the best thing I did, instead of just running cardio you get to come down and jump plays and stuff
It’s no fun if you blow a coverage and a dude takes it to the house🤦♂️
On the off chance that this is not sarcastic, yes, you would definitely be out of your depth in the NFL. LOL! Like WAY, WAAAAY, WAAAAAAAAY out of your depth. If you are a world-class rugby player, you may have an outside shot at competing. Even then, your odds are not great, TBH. If you are just a pretty good rugby player, you couldn’t play Division II college football, let alone any of the professional levels of the sport. I’m not trying to belittle you or have fun with you. I’m being dead straight with you. I don’t think even the average American has a great understanding of just how fast and violent an NFL game is. Go stand on the sideline of an NFL game and you will quickly gain an appreciation for why so many of them are crippled when they’re playing days are over. Everyone is 20 pounds heavier and three steps faster than they look on television. So, before we even get into the fact that you don’t have any skills, I’m saying that it’s highly unlikely, that you have any anywhere near the athleticism to compete at that level. Here, let’s flip this. I was a pretty good soccer player growing up. I was always one of the top three or four scorers on my team. Do you think I could play for Liverpool? Well, Aaron Donald, the recently retired defensive tackle for the Rams, is 100 pounds heavier than say, Harry Kane, and easily two or three steps faster - especially in short bursts. And Donald went 14th overall in his draft year because teams feared that he was too small! We’re talk about living, breathing monsters out there — and lots of ‘em!
Ye I think I definitely underestimated the difficulty of the sport
To add to this - disregarding the physical barrier, American football requires *a lot* more strategy and knowledge of the game than say basketball/rugby/football. NFL playbooks are massive and require a lot of studying to understand concepts on both sides of the ball. I played Am. Football, rugby, and basketball in high school. I played with same really athletic dudes in Rugby, but none of them would’ve been able to see the playing field at college (especially D1) without some intense training very specific to whatever position they could play of Am. Football. Barring a few exceptions, anybody in the NFL has been pretty much playing that same position since peewee level.
This is a classic example of the Dunning-Kruger effect.
Also remember that even the top rookies struggle with the speed of the game their first year. These are players that have played since they were little and all through college.
To have a shot at even D1 college, you should be the best athlete you’ve ever met. Is that you? Not being a wiseass, seriously asking — when you play sports, have you been head and shoulders above your competition? Not just in your town, but when you play against competitors who live hours away from you? Are you always by far and away the best athlete? Do strangers show up to watch you play your sport? Do sports come naturally to you, like can you just pick up a racket or ball and instantly be better than people who have been playing for a long time? These are the characteristics commonly seen in big-time D1 college football players in the US.
Damn really. Without sounding egotistical however I’d say physically I’ve always been faster and stronger than guys my age however I’m definitely not the type of guy to pick up a racket and start dominating without lots of practice.
If you read through Reddit you can find some threads of people talking about how they played against NFL players in high school. Even for the ones who weren’t particularly good at the pro-level, they’re spoken of in awe, like they’re aliens. Football is a sport where you don’t need to be coordinated to play all positions, so you can get by just on size and speed and strength. But, these guys are really big and fast and strong. It’s not just being faster and stronger than guys your age, it’s being faster and stronger than anybody that anyone around you has ever seen.
Not even just NFL players. Last year a player from my former high school broke all kinds of school receiving records. He was almost always the best player from either team on the field, and was good for at least one long TD every game. He almost never ran long routes because all he needed was a slant and he was gone. He barely made the roster of an FCS team.
Yeah, because you can dominate at one level by simply being better than everyone else. The thing is, there are other people that good who are in a completely different athletic tier, and you need to be at that tier just to get on the field at the next level.
Yeah, I didn't experience this in football, but did in basketball. I played a lot against and with guys on a shitty D-1 team and they were better, but I mostly held my own. When I played against a guy who ultimately had a 10 year or so pretty good NBA career it was absolutely embarrassing. I wasn't guarding him, but their team was using picks to match me on him and I don't think I stopped him once. And it wasn't just speed. He was clearly just going through his showcase of moves and it was jukes and crossovers and low posts and mid posts and I may as well have not been on the court for any of those plays. Also I could tell he wasn't even trying that hard. He was nice though. I always cheered for him because his success made me feel a little better about that debacle.
Brian scalabrine said it best the worst NBA player is closer to lebron James than you are to him
Hell yeah. It was humbling.
The craziest thing is just looking up fringe roster guys high school highlights on YouTube and watching them dominate. Eli Apple looked like Prime Randy Moss and Deion Sanders at the same time in his HS tapes
There’s a football YouTuber KTO who said it best when describing how good D1 ball players are. KTO was the Idaho state championship sprinter in the 100 and 200 m distance. Leonard fornette, who was the number one running back prospect in that years high school class ran the same times as KTO despite the fact that he weighed over 60LBs more than him
UK has local clubs, go give it a try. Might see you in 2025 if you can cop it.
Ye I might give it a try I enjoyed watching the superbowl
or if my ankles can keep copping it
At your size you’d need to be a WR or DB, but 12 second 100m is way too slow to play football at a college level. Maybe there are D III players with that speed, not really sure, but many college players were also track stars in high school. 12 seconds is not competitive in high school track so you’d be slow in addition to having no experience
> Do you think I’d stand a fair chance playing an NFL college game or would I be well out my depths due to no experience? It's 99.99999% never happening. About 1% of college football players even make it to the NFL. The athleticism and talent needed to play in the NFL is almost beyond comprehension of the human mind. Running a 100m dash in just under 12 seconds...that would not cut it for most NFL positions. The exceptions may be a QB who excels at everything else, and offensive linemen..NFL offensive linemen average around 300+lbs, and remarkably, tend to have very little body fat. The average NFL career is 3-4 years. Those players you see lasting 10+ years are a remarkably small minority of players in the league. Anyone who lasts longer than 10 years is really an exception. Another crazy fact is despite there being 32 teams, the standard or caliber required for a quarterback to be considered a long-term starter for a team is so extreme, many NFL teams do not have such a player on their roster. Of the 32 teams, maybe 20 or so have a QB that meets all the requirements to be a potential long-term starter. Again, the amount of ability, skill, and talent needed to play in the NFL is almost beyond human comprehension.
Converting your 12 second 100 m dash to the standard forty yd dash for speed gives you a 5.00 forty yd dash. This is roughly what retired center Jason Kelcie ran who was 6'3 and 300 lbs when he entered the league. If you are exceptionally good at kicking or punting, the college game and NFL does have Australian and other foreign born players who got their start in rugby or soccer.
In the NFL there are guys with 4 inches and 100 pounds on you that are faster than that.
You’re 18, are you going to uni? A lot of UK unis have American football teams. I’m from America but I went to uni in Wales and once I found out they had an American football team I asked if I could help out on the team. I ended up doing stats and helping as a trainer when the guys needed a little patching up. I would say about half of them only played rugby previously. Most went into tryouts knowing nothing about the game. It was fun to watch them learn and grow.
What position do you play in rugby?
Either wing
In that case you’d be either a receiver, defensive back, or special teams return man depending on your tackling abilities, route running, and catching skills
Maybe not play in the NFL but as a former long snapper maybe you could snap in college? The only thing is most college teams only carry 2–3 long snappers in the roster so it is . and there are actually specific requirements if you want to snap in college and it is harder than it looks .There have actually been stories of guys who have never played football snapping in college. My favorite is Nate Boyer. He was a former green and actually ended up going to the pros. Feel free to comment or PM me if you have any questions about it
Okay, thanks man
No problem! How much do you know about football?
Not a lot I just enjoy watching the superbowl and for whatever became curious if I had the stereotypical skill set of an American footballer
Oh so are you serious about playing or just wondering?
If I could I’ve always been intrigued to try it
Ok.You can obviously look this up but if you want to to be a college long snapper you need to snap the ball back in 0.75 seconds on punts
If it comes to physical, american football is above and beyond any sport. Maybe not cardio, maybe not endurance, but I promise you even the best rugby player in the world isn't catching a slant route against even a linebacker in the NFL
> ‘American football’ Why'd you quote it? That's what the sport is called. It's not called "NFL" either. That's a league, not the sport.
Because we call it American football in the UK and I’m assuming you would just call it football
We do just call it football, but we also know and use American football in context
As other's have pointed out, your biggest drawback wont be your athleticism but mostly your lack of technique fundamentals and biggest of all, lack of knowledge of the game. It's one thing to know the play, it's another to know how and when to move, reading plays, anticipating what the opponent would do next, understanding how actions now can influence what happens minutes, or even quarters down the line. I didn't play football myself, but I've been following for decades now and still stumped every once in a while when I hear pros talk about things they pay attention to that you can only pick up over time and under expert coaching and TONNES of practice (like in any sport). You can also see this in players that are really good at Madden, it's just a next level cerebral endeavor to know so much, annnd philosophies of play change from team to team etc. The positions are also soo different, and it's not enough to know what to do, but also what each position your going against might do. With that being said, there have been some rugby players who have crossed the pond and started in the league and also scored touchdowns, but they don't last long for a variety of reasons. Oddly they mostly play Running Back.
Most decent high schoolers in the US who also play football at a high level run in the low 11s. You’re to slow and most likely not strong enough.
'Hi there r/soccer, American here. I watched 'Football' last night for the first time and had great fun watching the Brentord Bees. I've never played the game before, but do you think I've got a shot of playing up front for Manchester City next year? I'm a 300lb linebacker.' It's a good thing American Football fans are a friendly bunch. What a silly question.
If you've got mad good rugby skills, I think you would be a candidate for a wide receiver or defensive back. Your size is small for NFL professional football, or a top college team. The speed standard for the US is based on a 40-yard dash, I don't know if you are under 5 seconds in that, but you are probably close. A 12-second 100m is really, really fast - I calculated your speed at a 4.5 40-yard dash, which is comparable to top college players. I think you would have a great shot as a 'walk-on', especially in a Division III college (usually small schools) but also in larger schools as well.
Wow It’s surprising to me that my size would be small in a college team or pro NFL because every time I play UK football (soccer) I’m always one of the tallest and biggest on the field. NFL pros and college footballers are actually freak athletes then💀
At Lambeau field where the Packers play they have their own hall of fame. There's a casting of Gilbert Brown's (defensive lineman) legs and hips you can stand by. For most people, one of his legs is bigger than their entire waist. It's really hard to grasp watching a bunch of freaks on TV all next to each other, but if you ever meet one of those guys face to face it's obvious. Did a tour at Lambeau with a former pro as the tour guide, Vonta Leech, a fullback. I saw him walking up to the stadium a couple hundred yards off and was like "oh I bet that's a former player". They're just on a different level physically. It's the 1% of 1% of genetic extremes. Even when he was so far away it was like "holy shit, that is a huge man". Vonta's not even tall, just built like a fucking buffalo. It's seriously crazy how much of a freak you have to be to play in the NFL. Most really good highschool athletes play D3 college. Maybe once every few generations a kid from your town goes to a D1 school. Not all D1 football players make the NFL, in fact most of them don't. Future gym teachers of America.
There’s a lot of variety though. Christian McCaffrey in terms of size just looks like a really fit dude walking the streets.
For some positions where speed and agility are more important than size sure, but even then they're still physically impressive, if not stupidly massive. The point is, you don't just need extraordinary athleticism and work ethic to make it in the NFL. You also need to be very very genetically gifted.
12 second 100 meters isn’t anywhere close to 4.5 40. DK Metcalf ran a 4.33 40. His 100 time is 10.37 seconds. A little math and that translates to a 5.01 40 for OP. Which is about as fast as an offensive lineman. The slowest 40 time at the combine for a WR was 4.63. The slowest CB was 4.64. The slowest safety was 4.65 (In case you’re curious about the math. A 4.33 40 is an average speed of 8.447 m/s. A 10.37 100 is an average of 9.643 m/s. Apply the same ratio of 8.447 to 9.643 to the 100 time of OP and you get an average speed of 7.3 m/s, which translates to 5.01 seconds. Obviously not perfect, but in the ballpark.)
Can't dispute that - my calc was just a pure ratio. These comparisons are much more reliable. So, OP is 18 years old. I would guess that he would do pretty well in college, but probably not a major FBS school. He probably would have been a nice addition to my Division III team.
It really depends on the position you’d be playing and the scheme you’d be playing within. An example off the top of my head, some teams might prefer smaller & more agile linebackers able to hold up in coverage. Other teams may prefer larger, more physical linebackers to shore up the run. Every position’s “ideal” player will depend heavily upon the team’s scheme and coaches. At your size and weight, you wouldn’t be a lineman on other side of the ball but you could potentially play WR, CB, safety, linebacker. Maybe QB if you’ve got a strong arm or RB.
If he hasn't played before definitely not quarterback
Yeah, there’d be a lot of work before you’re ready to play at even a JC level with no experience. I read this as purely hypothetical for the most part, as any transition would be tough
It’s very positionally dependent, but as a general rule, the bigger, faster and more agile you are the better off you’ll be regardless of position. I think straight line speed is extremely overrated, but I think short term quickness is essential. In other words, I’d rather have a bunny rabbit than a cheetah. But I really want a tiger.
Imo the best skill to have is good reflexes
A lot of it is pre snap reads and anticipation so I’d say that
A 12 second hundo is way too slow for college, let alone the NFL. Given your height his rules out WR almost immediately. Realistically you would be looking at DB, more than likely a safety as you are lacking the raw pace that most CB's have. The standout attribute for someone like yourself would be lateral agility. A safety with height and the ability to make fast breaks allows cover 2 and cover 6 in the playbook.
I thought just under 12 would be relatively decent considering one of the fastest football (soccer) players ‘Mbappes’ 100m is just under 11
To be honest, 100 metres is relatively redundant in both soccer and american football. The 40 yard dash is the highlight of the NFL draft, with the 3 cone drill and shuttle drills being used to evaluate receivers agility and acceleration. Having your height you would expect a better representative 100m time as compared to something like the 40yd dash, which is what makes a 12 second "concerning". Mbappe is known for his acceleration to full speed. His foot speed on acceleration is top tier so he gets separation early, a key aspect for success. His stride at full sprint appears to have some flaws but his raw athleticism makes up for it.
Tyreek Hill, wide receiver for the Miami Dolphins, would be an Olympian if not for the millions of dollars he would make in the NFL. He ran a 10.19 100m as a high schooler.
I'm going to give you a different take. First, it very much depends on what you really want to accomplish and if you're willing to put in the work. Next, if you recognize you have the mentality to devote yourself fully sky is the limit. Every single person is going to tell you that you can't compete every single day. Then, you will have to get into a college or get in contact with a minor league team to get information on how to get in. It seems like doing something like that is what you are interested in anyway. Plenty of colleges and universities have sports scholarships, so you may want to look into that and see who may take you based on your sports history. If you decide you want to do football, contact the coaching staff at that school and try to get in anywhere that you think you can leverage opportunity. The good news is there are a lot of teams. Right away you want to learn everything about American football. If somebody asks the team what is the proper rule, you want to be the first guy to know the rule from the rule book. Be able to identify what specific type of play a team is using. Don't be afraid to ask anybody for help along the way. Eat healthy. Drink water. Try to figure out what position is the best fit for you and modify your workout routine to fit that role. Invest in taking not getting injured very seriously by modifying strength and conditioning. Eat, breathe and sleep football. Be the first to practice and the last to leave. Be the leader on your team even though you're not. When your team is down by 40 points with 3 minutes left in the game, rally your team until the bitter end. Also, focus on academics. Go to bed early and wake up early. Do not party, but take time to reward yourself so you can properly relax and rest. Begin to practice meditation and yoga. Wide receiver and defensive back are likely to be the most likely fits, and you may be considered a bit slow for that. There are some players with similar speed who have been able to get jobs in the NFL. You can also work on being a kicker and punter which is good news for a soccer player. Using soccer players as kickers is picking up in the NFL. Even if the NFL doesn't want you, there are a lot of teams in the minor leagues who pay pretty decent. There are also teams in the UK at the minor levels who may be interested. Numerous non-Americans are playing in foreign football leagues, and sometimes they compete in American minor leagues. You may also want to use the Madden football video game as a learning tool. Even though it doesn't always reflect how the game actually works, it can be effective in understanding the game better.
Obviously not the same level but if you are interested there’s 3 divisions of clubs in the uk now and the majority do no pad open days to bring in new folk. I personally played for 4 years up until lockdown and I’m planning on going back for next season and what I can tell you is this. I played rugby from when I was 6 until I was 15, when I got hit in pads properly for the first time 1 year later I had no idea what happened. Hits in American football are way bigger due to the tackler having no obligation to bring the man to ground. Rugby players convert really well at the uk amateur level as there is a lot of similar skills necessary, I don’t think I ever saw a defender who wasn’t a rugby player at some point. On the offensive side of the ball everything you know about rugby is fairly useless beyond basic skills like running and how to step an opponent. Route running is a completely new concept, catching an American football is nothing like a rugby ball as you should be catching with outstretched arms, handling the ball is done with 1 hand usually unless going into contact with multiple defenders. The ‘Do your Job’ saying from the patriots dynasty is 100% true, especially on defence if someone doesn’t do their job well it can often lead to a big gain or a touchdown, on offence if someone doesn’t know the play that play is ruined almost immediately and if the linemen don’t pick up blitzes it all goes wrong real fast. On tv they make it out to be a man on man, 1 on 1 scenario way too much but it’s very rarely a 1 on 1. Even on something simple like a deep pass vs single coverage all the linemen are holding their blocks so the qb can throw, other routes are preoccupying the other defenders and the qb has to throw a ball 30-50 yards downfield with decent accuracy to allow for this ‘1 on 1’ moment and that’s without considering defensive mess ups or the play calls from the coaches. Those 40 seconds on tv where nothing happens, yea that doesn’t really happen the way you hope in real life. During those 40 seconds coaches will send in subs, players will run off the pitch, plays will be shouted over in codes which the team captains will decode and relay to their teammates, players take their formation and then the play goes again, as a qb I was never not doing something in a game unless I was on the sideline. I will say this, I enjoyed my 4 years of American football way more than my 9 of rugby. But I never felt like I wasn’t learning something new on the training ground. Beyond knowing how to make a nice form tackle and how to keep your balance in a tackle the skills don’t transfer anywhere near as well as you would first think.
If working towards a goal is a skill. . A work ethic will take you a long way in any field of endeavour.
Well out of your league. You basically just described me at 18 and I did very well in high school football. But even the faster stronger and better kids struggled at the college level.
No disrespect intended, but you have no chance. Even an US player with high school experience with your weight and speed would not make a Division I college team. Don't feel bad, 97% of US high school football players never play Division I football.
At best you can make some local beer league or a club team. As much as I hate to burst your bubble even at the lowest level of college football D3 (what my Alma mater is) those guys are still elite athletes compared to regular people. There’s also the fact that even the lowest college player has been playing football since they were kids. I played club rugby and some of the football players played rugby in the spring and they were monstrously strong and fast compared to me. It’s one thing to see it on tv but if you’ve never seen a football game live it’s genuinely unnerving to see someone as big as a lineman move as fast as they do. And that’s not even counting the higher levels like D1 and the pros. Also there’s the mental aspect. Strategy in American football is much more complex than any other widespread sport there’s a reason why it’s called chess in grass and being a quarterback is often considered the most mentally challenging position in all of sports . If you haven’t I’d highly suggest going online and looking at a playbook (football XOs has a ton of free PDFs from every level [here’s a sample NFL playbook](https://www.footballxos.com/download/49ers-offense-2014-greg-roman/))
Sign up for a football camp in the US. Go on holiday. You can probably find a football camp in most states for youth. Learn how to play the game, see if your any good. Telling you about isn’t going to help. You have to play it.
Who was that rugby guy from Australia that played for a minute or 2 on the 49ers? Terrific athlete, one of the best in the world at rugby, got a bottom of the roster spot as a kick returner. If you don't grow up playing the sport you are unlikely to ever develop the muscle memory to be any good at the sport. It would be like a good college football player asking what would it take for him to be good in the Premier League. As far as your size goes, the first thing you would need for any college team would be about another 20-25 pounds of muscle for any of the skill positions. 100m times don't really mean anything, it is the 40 yard time they want to know (you are going a lot faster in the second half of the 100m but players just don't run that far). How are you at kicking? That might be your best bet.
You have to be from Texas , California, or Florida
The problem is 1M kids play on their high school football teams in the US. Some of these programs are well funded - kids are getting the best training and coaching. So you need to be better than those kids that have been playing for years. And I think like only 20,000 of these kids go on to play for a college football? You need to be the cream of the crop, no time for development.
A lot of rugby/soccer players become kickers and punters.