Louis Rees-Zammit could legitimately make the proposed Noah Lyles vs Tyreek Hill race a three-way affair.
Reports have emerged that Super Serious, a company co-founded by Hollywood star Terry Crews, has received confirmation from both Olympic 100m king Lyles and Miami Dolphins wide receiver Hill that they are willing to go head to head. The race will be part of the Duael competition, specifically the Super Serious On Sight series, which sees Olympic racers go up against other top athletes in an elimination-style tournament.
Crews is said to have received a verbal agreement from Hill, while Lyles has officially signed up for the project. Lyles took Olympic gold in Paris after clocking 9.79. Hill’s best time over the same distance is 10.19, although he has run sub-10 seconds wind-assisted. Welshman Rees-Zammit's PB is slightly slower at 10.44 seconds.
In terms of actual speed, Hill once clocked 23.24mph on a 27-yard kick-off return while playing for the Kansas City Chiefs in 2016. That compares to former rugby star Rees-Zammit – now of the Jacksonville Jaguars – who has reached 24.2mph during a game.
Earlier this year, at an International Player Pathway (IPP) Pro Day, where non-American players tried to impress NFL scouts, Rees-Zammit completed the 40-yard dash in an impressive 4.44 seconds. The 23-year-old wasn’t happy with his time though, as he’d set 4.2s and 4.3s in training.
However, only around a dozen players have run sub-4.3 seconds for the 40-yard dash since 2013. Earlier this year, Texas Longhorns wide receiver Xavier Worthy set a new benchmark of 4.21 seconds, underlining the company Rees-Zammit is in. Hill reportedly ran an unofficial 4.29 at a Pro Day in 2016.
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Rees-Zammit’s lightning feet could actually grace the Wembley turf this weekend, with the former Gloucester Rugby winger potentially set for a shock Jacksonville debut. He had a watching brief last weekend as the Jags went down to the Chicago Bears at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Jacksonville face off against the New England Patriots at Wembley this Sunday and Henry Hodgson, the general manager for the UK’s NFL office, says he could turn out. He told the BBC: "It will be great for him to get some action and, fingers crossed, that might happen.”
Hodgson reckons Rees-Zammit, who can be promoted from the Jags' practice squad in the event of injuries, has a big future in the sport, adding: “His natural talent will stand him really well in the NFL but he needs to learn the nuance of the game.
"He is doing well and hopefully we'll see him if not this season, next year. They [American football and rugby] are similar sports in the fact that they're contact sports but they're also very, very different."
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