The Welshman's career at the Chiefs is well and truly under way
It's almost a week since Louis Rees-Zammit and his Kansas City Chiefs team-mates arrived at pre-training camp ahead of the new season.
On Tuesday, superstar quarter-back Patrick Mahomes and new signing Rees-Zammit were filmed entering the Chiefs' training facility at Missouri Western State University, St Joseph, which is located about an hour away from Kansas City itself.
Fellow new boy Xavier Worthy, who clocked the fastest ever 40-yard dash at a combine this year (4.22s), was also seen turning up for training.
Shortly after, footage was posted by the Chiefs themselves, showing Rees-Zammit receiving a pass from Mahomes, with the caption: "St. Joe debut for Rees-Lightning." You can watch the footage below.
After his first training session, Rees-Zammit spoke to the media, and revealed that he has been spending an extra two hours a day after training to learn the extensive playbook.
"I think rugby really prepared me for this, with the conditioning and being in good physical shape," he said. "The biggest difference is just mental, staying on top of things, staying on top of the playbook and making no mistakes.
"I'm non-stop trying to learn this playbook, because as soon as I can stop thinking and can just play fast, that's the biggest thing for me. We don’t finish meetings until 8pm and I probably go to bed at 10pm, so an extra two hours just learning the plays.
"I'm playing catch up with a lot of people who have played American football since they were little kids. There's no time to rest for me. I have to give this my all because ultimately, this is my dream. To make it come true, I have to be a step ahead of a lot of people."
The last week has been pre-training camp and has been specifically designed for rookies, like Rees-Zammit and Worthy, as well as quarter-backs and those recovering from injuries. The 'vets' or 'veterans' as they are described by Chiefs, returned to training on Sunday, July 21, after arriving on Friday. Things are about to get serious for the Welshman.
Rees-Zammit and the rest of the Chiefs team were part of the first open training session of the camp on the Sunday. There was a $5 admission fee for Chiefs fans, who were also able to secure autographs from any of the players, which included returning veteran Travis Kelce, the partner of Taylor Swift.
The pre-camp of the past week included three full practices for Rees-Zammit and Co, before the first official day of camp began on the Sunday. Head coach Andy Reid spoke about the importance of this pre-camp. "I think it's great for all these guys just to get in," he explained. "To become familiar and to go through it one more time before the veterans get in and everything is going 100 miles an hour.
