Wishing Valentine Holmes god speed on the slow path to the NFL

Valentine Holmes is an exceptional athlete but well lack a singular exceptional quality to make it in the NFL.

Valentine Holmes (left) and Jason Taumalolo after working out for NFL teams in Los Angeles in 2016. Picture: AAP

Third man to walk on the moon? Pete Conrad. Third mountaineer to climb Everest? Ernst Schied. Who cares? Conrad and Schied. For when something’s already been done, you’re not inclined to salute those who have merely done it again. The sense of wonder is diminished. It’s no longer mission impossible.

Third NRL player to reach the NFL? Maybe Valentine Holmes. So what? International footballers are pouring into the NFL. Alex Gray is a former England under-20s rugby player at the Atlanta Falcons. Another English rugby player, Christian Scott-Williamson, has been of no particular renown outside of the Worcester Warriors. He’s at Pittsburgh Steelers. The International Player Pathway Program gives blokes like these, and Holmes, a recognised road to travel.

Holmes doesn’t need to beat thousands of American hopefuls to get a look-in. He needs to beat half a dozen other internationals at an NFL academy to get on to a practice squad. And from there, he’s on his way.

Holmes isn’t Haynemania II. His challenge doesn’t seem Himalayan. We know he can make it because Jarryd Hayne and Jordan Mailata have already planted the flag from the NRL.

Will he be missed? Kind of. He’s been an exceptional rugby league player, but an understated one. They’ll be poorer for his absence at Shark Park but for Queensland and Australia, Kalyn Ponga will be putting enough bums on seats. We’ve seen a lot of nice touches from Holmes. That’s different to being touched by him.

Hayne has benefited from hoopla. American sport loves its bullshit. Brand beats bland in selection countbacks. It loves its characters. Its oddities. Its nicknames. The Hayne Plane has had a mercurial quality to him. And a great moniker. It’s all helped Hayne. A mate has suggested that Valentine is a unique enough name for the NFL’s PR department. Valentine’s Day. Be Our Valentine. Bah.

If Holmes suits up, he’ll be doing it with quiet efficiency. He appears a bit short. Or a bit skinny. Or a bit slow.

Scouts from 14 NFL teams watched him trial alongside Jason Taumalolo in 2016. The Philadelphia Eagles, Indiana Colts, Kansas City Chiefs, Green Bay Packers, Seattle Seahawks. They’ve watched their session and thought, how good’s Taumalolo! He’s been unique. Holmes’s problem is that he doesn’t have anything that makes him stand out. He’s an NRL speedster, but the speed is relative. Relatively slow compared to thousands of others.

His quest will depend on how fast he can be over 40 yards. That’s pretty much it. At 185cm and 90kg, he doesn’t have bruising physicality. Which means he needs blistering speed. On the only available evidence, he lacks the explosiveness. He’s clocked 4.6 seconds for 40 yards in front of the scouts. That’s quick enough to get you out of the water when you see a blue bottle. Not quick enough for the NFL. The best at the combine has been 4.32 sec. A 196cm, 113kg linebacker has done 4.54 sec.

To be fair, he’s done his trial after stepping off a plane from London to Los Angeles. After a World Cup. After a bruising, grand final-winning NRL season. He’s borrowed cleats. He’s had intimidating scouts staring at him. He’s probably not been at his perky best. But his time would not have made the top 100 at this year’s NFL Combine. That’s the worry. The average 40-yard time is 4.49 sec. Hayne has done 4.53 sec. They’re not yawning gaps, but they count.

Holmes seems certain to be one of eight players to gain entry to the intensive two-month internationals’ program at the IMG Academy in Florida in January. From there, four players will be slotted into NFL practice squads in April — or be snapped up in the draft as Mailata was.

“It’s going to be a long journey,” Damani Leech, the NFL’s senior vice-president of football strategy and business development, has told AAP. “That’s something we really try to impress on the athletes. Just being selected for the program is just the start of what could be a really long journey of development and understanding the game … I haven’t met him personally but I’m certainly familiar with him, have seen film on him, so he’s definitely someone we are aware of.”

Gray has described the process as initially humbling and confronting. Flicking through encyclopaedia-sized playbooks with a rapidly decreasing bank account and wondering if it’s worth the effort. It may take years for Holmes to see a couple of minutes of game time. He’s no Neil Armstrong in trying to land on another sporting planet. “Whoopee!” Conrad said after becoming the third man to walk on the moon. “That may have been a small step for Neil, but that’s a long one for me.”