NFL expert reveals Louis Rees-Zammit's future now shrouded in 'uncertainty' after change announced
The 2024/2025 NFL regular season has ended, and Louis Rees-Zammit's Jacksonville Jaguars have not made the play-offs.
The play-offs begin this weekend, with the likes of Baltimore Ravens and Denver Broncos in action. However, Jaguars finished second bottom of AFC South and sacked head coach Doug Pedersen this week.
Former Wales star Rees-Zammit was part of the 17-player practice squad, where you can be elevated to the main team up to three times per season, but he did not play a single minute for the franchise.
READ MORE: This is what a Wales A team would look like right now
The 2025/2026 season of the NFL does not begin until September, with pre-season games taking place in August. However, there will be a new draft soon and Rees-Zammit is not guaranteed a place on the team again, so what next for the 23-year-old?
talkSPORT writer Brian Smith recently interviewed Rees-Zammit and came away with the impression he "wanted more".
"He's no longer LRZ the famous rugby player, he's just another guy on the practice squad," continued Smith. "I felt like Rees-Zammit knew at that point... the Jaguars are in London, you're in London but you can't get on the field and you can't even play in a game. How long does he want to be rolled out as a promotional tool for the Jacksonville Jaguars? Maybe another team would give him a better opportunity.
"The flip side of that is, he just spent all season learning their playbook. But then that playbook is going to change. They're going to bring in a new head coach who's going to change everything. There is a possibility that a new head coach could look at him and be like: 'Wow, you've got a lot of talent and I know how to get the most out of that in the NFL'. But he could also be like: 'I'm sorry, you're not good enough'.
"I have covered the NFL for more than a decade, up close. If you're on the practice squad but you don't believe that you're going to be playing in the next game, that can be hard. You're in the NFL, but you are not really in the NFL. It's all about being on the active gameday roster and having a shot to get on the real field.
"It's complicated by the fact that the Jaguars just fired their head coach, who theoretically brought him in. He's no longer there, so there are several components to this that will now get interesting for LRZ, how committed is he to the NFL, truly? How committed is he to the Jacksonville Jaguars? Do he and his agent decide that going somewhere else is better? I do know from experience in the NFL, the practice squad is a fluctuating monster that is really hard to predict. Guys bounce around all the time. Ultimately for him, the word is uncertainty for his future with the Jaguars and the NFL."
Despite being signed with the Jaguars, if they decide they do not want him as part of their practice squad or 53-man roster next season, then he'll be back to square one and will need to find a new team. Smith went on to emphasise this uncertainty.
"Practice squad contracts aren't really worth the paper that they're printed on," answered Smith. "My understanding has always been that you can be cut at any point. There's nothing that would guarantee him that he is a member of the Jacksonville Jaguars next year. The coaches are going to be looking at everything. The only thing that's guaranteed in the NFL is a guaranteed contract and those are actually very rare. They usually go to the star players."
With Rees-Zammit not playing a single minute of regular season football for his new team, Smith provided some clarity on where the Welshman stands - especially as the Jaguars used seven out of their eight wide receivers during the season, but not him.
"I do think that's interesting," explained Smith. "I thought all along that it was going to take time, credit to him. I'm just going to give you my personal read on the situation as somebody who covered the NFL for over a decade in the US. It's hard, it's really hard, some of the stuff that came out early for him was a little naive; the showboating, Instagram stuff, saying that you were texting (Patrick) Mahomes. That sounds good in an interview but it doesn't do anything for you in an NFL locker room. It is a cutthroat business. I would say it's harder to make the NFL than the Premier League.
"You have guys, from the age of five trying to make the NFL. It's all that they do and they can be really good in college and they've got a one-in-a-10,000 shot to make the NFL. To think that was going to magically happen for him in his first year, and he was going to be catching passes in real games and running back kicks... no offence, I love the UK but I saw broadcasts on major TV networks, like: 'Oh my gosh, he's a member of the Kansas City Chiefs. No. He was never a member of the Kansas City Chiefs. He was never on their actual roster.
"I hope he makes it. He obviously has incredible athletic talent. But to think that he was going to be a contributing member on the field, racking up stats... let's put this into perspective - he couldn't even play for one of the worst teams in the NFL this year. And they needed a lot of help, Trevor Lawrence (their star quarter-back) was hurt, they had major injures, they needed all the weapons they could get. He wasn't good enough this year to get on the team.
"I hope that changes for him, because it would be a great story. But I always thought it would be a multi-year thing, and I think that's the question with Louis Rees-Zammit - is he committed to sacrificing a really good, and you know better than me, and everyone in Wales does, a really good rugby career to try and make the NFL? If you're going to do that you have to believe it's going to work out and he needs to be committed to this. He has to get better this off-season, he's got to go into training camp, whether it's with the Jaguars or another team next year.
"It's not even about 53 guys (on the roster), it's really about five guys - wide receivers. Is he better than them? He wasn't last year. Just because you're fast and you look good and you're really good at rugby doesn't mean you're going to be an NFL wide receiver. Lastly, he only made it harder for himself by changing positions. I could not believe that he tried to make it as a running back and then changed to wide receiver right before the season started. I think anybody who knows the NFL would have told you that you're not going to play in the NFL this year, and this was a learning year in 2024 for Louis Rees-Zammit."
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The Super Bowl is set to take place on February 2, marking the end of the NFL season. The 2025/2026 draft will take place between April 24 and 26 in Wisconsin, which is around the time we will find out whether Rees-Zammit is re-signed by the Jaguars or picked up by another team.
The deadline for announcing your roster and practice squad for the following season typically takes place in August. Like what happened with the Chiefs, even if he is picked up in April and is training with a team, that does not guarantee him a place in the final squad. When this deadline comes in August, if they do not name him to their 53-man active roster or practice squad then he will be without a team again.
