How Arryn Siposs went from delisted AFL player to a starting NFL punter in just four years

Chewed up and spat out of the AFL system, ex-Saint Arryn Siposs’s first audition as a NFL punter came down to doing one thing with the ball.

Arryn Siposs was walking along Swan St towards Goschs’s Paddock when the doubts began to swirl in his head.

It was mid-2017 on a wintry Melbourne afternoon and the former St Kilda player was about to give up the Sherrin and punt a pigskin for the first time in his life.

“I started thinking, ‘What the hell am I doing?’” Siposs said on the AthletesVoice website.

“I’d held an American football in my hands, but I’d never kicked one before ever.”

Four years later, the man who was delisted by St Kilda after 28 games is now the starting punter at the Philadelphia Eagles in the NFL and will earn a minimum of $US2.5 million if he can stay on the roster for three years.

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Arryn Siposs is finding success in Philadelphia. Picture: Getty Images

When he had his first kick of an American football in 2017, Siposs was playing in the VFL with Williamstown, doing an exercise science and teaching degree and coaching the seconds footy team at Brighton Grammar.

His meteoric rise from Beaconsfield to the dizzying heights of the NFL started when he was invited down for a kick by former Brisbane and Hawthorn player Nathan Chapman, the head punting coach for Prokick Australia.

Founded in 2007, it’s a program that works to get Australian athletes an American football gig at college and NFL level.

Siposs had first heard of the program in 2010 when he received a letter spruiking Prokick just months before the AFL national draft.

The then 17-year-old “footy head” thought nothing more of it, discarding the letter as he focused on his lifelong dream of playing AFL football.

From AFL to NFL... Arryn Siposs recaps an incredible journey that might just be getting started!#AFL360pic.twitter.com/toAL9LcJfe

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Seven years on, and having been chewed up and spat out of the AFL system, his circumstances had changed.

Siposs may have had his doubts at his first audition on a windy Gosch’s Paddock, but they were quickly eased by Chapman.

“Chappy just said to kick it how I’d normally kick an Aussie rules ball,” Siposs said.

“He basically just wanted to see how I kicked the footy and how much hang time I could get.

“He wasn’t worried about anything else.

“I had no idea how it was going to go, but I knew it could be make or break.

“I was lucky to get on to a few, and right from the start Chappy told me he’d be able to get me into a good college.”

Chapman, who himself signed a contract with the NFL’s Green Bay Packers after his AFL days, said Siposs’ potential was clear.

“He had a really talented and fluid kick on him and it was just a matter of knowing how long it would take to I guess tighten him up in terms of what he needed to do to transition him from an AFL footballer into an American punter,” Chapman said.

“That included working on some muscle memory things that we had to change to get more out of his kick and to get a more consistent kick.

“And then it was a process of getting film and speaking to coaches and getting him recruited.

“But it was pretty simple for us to realise when he turned up that he was going to be a good one.”

Siposs punting for Auburn University. Picture: AAP/AU Atheletics

Using his US connections that he’d built up over time, Chapman secured Siposs a full scholarship to Auburn University in Alabama, where he would study physical activity and education.

At US college, student athletes need to maintain grades above a certain level or they’re pulled out of football.

“Some people get surprised by what’s involved and how hard it is,” Chapman said.

“It’s similar to playing AFL football at the top level and adding in 25 hours of uni for the week.

“If you just want to play professionally then great, but you’ve still got to do everything from the collegiate point first to get that opportunity.

“There’s no real shortcuts to any elite sports.

“You’ve got to do the work and you don’t treat it like something you’re just going to slide in on to.”

Despite the lure of a scholarship and a pathway to the NFL, there is also the crowds factor which always makes a prospective player’s ears prick up.

“Aaryn was in the SEC (southeastern conference) with Auburn and his average crowd was 90,000-plus,” Chapman said.

“Cameron Johnston, who spent some time on Melbourne’s list a few years back, went over to Ohio State and his average crowd over four years was 105,000, so there’s plenty to get excited about.

“It’s like Anzac Day or a big AFL finals crowd every week.”

THE SAINTS DAYS

Siposs could not believe his luck.

It was the night of the 2010 national draft, and Siposs was watching the AFL national draft on the Gold Coast at a mate’s house.

It was late in the draft when St Kilda called out his name at pick No.75, which he’d later describe as the “best moment of his life.”

Not only was he staying in Melbourne, he was going to the club he’d supported his whole life.

At the time he was working part-time selling doughnuts at Krispy Kreme in Fountain Gate, but in a flash he was an AFL player.

St Kilda great Leigh Montagna said Siposs’s biggest weapon stood out from day one.

“His kicking was always his greatest asset,” Montagna said.

“He was a beautiful, long accurate kick and that was his trademark.

“He was always just a footy head.”

Arryn Siposs as a Saint. Picture: Getty Images

Montagna said Siposs was a much-loved teammate but struggled to find his identity in the Saints side.

“I loved Sippo, he’s a lovely kid, really respectful and a nice guy,” Montagna said.

“He grew up a St Kilda supporter and his parents were St Kilda tragics.

“He was a really popular teammate, but he just struggled to find a position in the forward line.

“He was probably that kind of awkward size where he wasn’t a key position but he wasn’t sort of a flanker and he just struggled to sort of cement down a spot.”

During his time at Seaford, Siposs begun to take notice of the NFL.

There was a strong contingent of NFL fans among the players, which was led by Nick Riewoldt, whose wife Cath is from Houston and is a huge Texans fan.

“The footy club’s always had a big sort of following of the American sports so there was always a group that would get stuck right into it,” Montagna said.

“Rooey drove it and was the one leading the charge.

“Training would be scheduled early on the Monday of the Superbowl so you could go inside and watch it.”

Siposs was never invested in it like some of his teammates, but an interest had been piqued.

THE MONEY IN THE NFL

NFL is a notoriously ruthless business, but the rewards can be great.

Another Prokick product, Aussie Michael Dickson, recently signed a monster $16 million ($21 million AUD) four-year extension with the Seattle Seahawks.

Siposs will this year earn just under $900,000 AUD in his rookie season.

“If you get drafted you’ll get some guaranteed money and if you get drafted in the fifth round you might make $600,000 or $700,000,” Chapman said.

“You might have a base payment of $450,000, which’ll increase by about $100,000 every year that you’re in the league.

“And if you sign another contract, as Michael Dickson did the other day, his contract was $16 million with about $8 million guaranteed, so if you prove yourself and stay there long enough you certainly get looked after.”

The rewards for success in the NFL are incredible. Picture: Getty Images

MORE AUSSIES TO COME

Montagna and St Kilda are following Siposs’s journey from afar.

But could they also follow him into the NFL?

“We’re the best kickers going around in world sport from hand to foot, so they’d be crazy not to find more guys in Australia that are able to punt,” Montagna said.

Chapman said the opportunities were there for players with a sense of adventure.

“I think there’s plenty of scope for it and plenty of our coaches would love to talk to or see a guy who’s grown up in the professional system come and kick a ball,” Chapman said.

“The toll on the body is totally different.

“There’s not as many bumps and running, so if you look after yourself and your body and keep your stretching up, you could go through college and then kick in the NFL until you’re 44.”

Originally published as How Arryn Siposs went from delisted AFL player to a starting NFL punter in just four years