Christian Wade's NFL switch will be like going back to school, says Hayden Smith
After quitting rugby to pursue his American football dream, Christian Wade has been warned that he will be entering “kindergarten” by the only man to have made the full transition from the Premiership to the NFL.
After winning the 2011 Premiership title with Saracens as a second row, Hayden Smith played a season as a tight end for the New York Jets in 2012 before returning to rugby. His single reception, which he carried for 16 yards, remains the high-water mark for a professional rugby union player in the NFL, although players such as Alex Gray and Christian Scotland-Williamson made it as far as practice squads.
Wade, the Wasps winger, is the most established rugby player yet to attempt to crack the NFL, but Smith says that to all intents and purposes the third-highest try-scorer in Premiership history would be starting over.
“The one thing is that you have to be comfortable going back to kindergarten,” Smith said. “You are no longer a seasoned professional in the sport you play. It is day one of kindergarten and you have to be comfortable not knowing what you are doing.
“It is a massive jump. I’m not sure what position he is looking at, but it is not like a cookie-cutter approach where wingers make wide receivers. There are a lot of nuances and it is a very difficult jump to make, so good luck to him.”
The mistake many people make, Smith says, is to assume that speed, size and power within rugby are directly applicable to American football. Even Wade’s magical sidestep does not necessarily correlate.
“Footwork is something that is very specific to different situations on a football field as compared to anything you might see in rugby,” Smith said.
Then there are the playbooks to learn. At the Jets, Smith’s was six inches thick and it took him hundreds of hours to learn thousands of permutations of plays by heart.
“It is a complicated game,” Smith said. “There’s a different language which you have to understand, even before you can get your head around the schematics and the way the game comes together. Then you have to figure out physically how to execute what needs to be done.”
On Friday, Wasps still had not officially confirmed Wade’s exit, despite his absence from the Champions Cup team-sheet against Bath. The club have signed Malakai Fekitoa, the former All Blacks centre, for next season from Toulon.
