Four NFL franchises keen to sign NRL stars Jason Taumalolo and Valentine Holmes
THE NRL has banned NFL workouts but the American football dream isn’t over for rugby league stars Valentine Holmes and Jason Taumalolo.
THE NRL has banned NFL workouts but the American football dream isn’t over for rugby league stars Valentine Holmes and Jason Taumalolo.
The pair’s manager, Chris Orr, says he has received interest from four NFL clubs after the their workout for scouts from 14 franchises in Los Angeles in November.
Orr said Holmes and Taumalolo are genuinely interested in the NFL, but want to evaluate their options before making any formal decisions.
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He says this includes speaking with their NRL clubs, Cronulla and North Queensland in the coming weeks.
If they are not willing to recommit to their respective clubs, they could push for a mid-season release as early as April to enhance their prospects of cutting it in the NFL as quickly as possible.
“Our position now is to re-evaluate the level of interest from the NFL and then sit down with both league clubs and go from there,” Orr told The Daily Telegraph.
“Once all the cards are on the table we can make an informed decision.
“I think it was more finding out the level of interest from the NFL clubs that have contacted us.
“And if that’s genuine and we want to pursue it, then we need to come back to them with the players’ positions.
“We are making sure we look at the players’ options when they come back to work.
“They are both off contract with their clubs and first and foremost we need to respect that.
“We need to see where their clubs see the futures for both players, but the NFL is certainly a valid option.”
As former Parramatta Eels star Jarryd Hayne has shown, making the transition to the NFL is far from easy.
Hayne’s stint with the San Francisco 49ers in 2015 was littered with challenges and setbacks, including a muffed punt reception in his regular-season debut.
Despite the steep learning curve, the former Test and Origin star played eight games for the 49ers before leaving the franchise last May to eventually return to the NRL with the Titans.
Hayne’s NFL journey highlighted how hard it is for foreign athletes to pick up the complexities of American football in a short period.
Holmes and Taumalolo will face a similar battle if they choose to pursue an NFL career. As shown with Hayne’s example, franchises have little patience when it comes to developing or new players.
It means Holmes and Taumalolo would ideally need to move to America by April if they picked up an NFL contract.
This is when clubs have NFL approval to undertake Organised Team Activities, which is a developmental camp for players.
Training camps then open in mid-July, in the middle of the NRL season.
If Taumalolo or Holmes decided to delay their defection for another year, their NFL journey could be over before it begins.
It’s why Orr wants to thoroughly investigate NFL as an option.
“The thing that we need to investigate is the introduction rookie contracts that they would have to go in under,” he said.
“Where does that position the player and their needs and their obligations around that?
“Right now they’d like to play in the NFL, but at the same time they’ve got to take into consideration the different obstacles and challenges before they can make a decision.”
Originally published as Four NFL franchises keen to sign NRL stars Jason Taumalolo and Valentine Holmes
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