Good to see him going well in NFL. Obviously early days.I don’t know much about NFL. What are his chances of getting into the squad and getting a contract? All news reports have said, pretty unlikely. Is that because there are superior players who are playing at the moment or something? I think he can bring something to the game that perhaps some footballers don’t have or don’t utilise e.g the handoff (probably called something different). Rugby players certainly run different lines sometimes and are probably more adept at evading tackles.
He’s doing well but the Buffalo Bills have a bunch of more established Running Backs and they will only likely keep 3 or 4 on the roster. That may push Christian Wade onto the Practice Squad. Its an inglorious purgatory paying pennies until some team gets enough injuries to call you up. Christian is amazingly athletic and has wonderful vision - the problem is that he has lacks the 15 years of football experience most of the other guys have sdo he does not understand some of the more subtle concepts, like following blockers, play types, how to block on a pass play, etc.
I’m a Buffalo fan and would love it if he made the 53 man roster. I think the LeSean McCoy is spent and overpriced - he may be a NFL star but Buffalo should drop him. Frank Gore is a better person, and probably has more gas in the tank (even if he’s older) - but her won’t be around in next year. The Bills are carrying FB Patrick DiMarco. I can’t understand why. He’s expensive, bearly carries or catches the ball and his blocking contribution is so-so. He should go. There is T.Y. Yelton - a serviceable journyman RB brought in during the of-season. He’s mid-priced and not bad. And finaly the Bills have Devin Singletary - a rookie that may be a future star (or not).
My prefrence would be to dump McCoy & DiMarco and go with Gore, Yelton, Singletery and Wade. Use Wade on special teams and on 3rd and long where his unorthodox style gives you a chance to confuse the opponents and rush for 15yds.
He’s doing well but the Buffalo Bills have a bunch of more established Running Backs and they will only likely keep 3 or 4 on the roster. That may push Christian Wade onto the Practice Squad. Its an inglorious purgatory paying pennies until some team gets enough injuries to call you up. Christian is amazingly athletic and has wonderful vision - the problem is that he has lacks the 15 years of football experience most of the other guys have sdo he does not understand some of the more subtle concepts, like following blockers, play types, how to block on a pass play, etc.
There are definitely some similarities with the running lines, as a wing in rugby he’s used to looking for space and running into it. Different in football, as you said. Much less space, much smaller field. I would think he’d adjust pretty quickly. Rugby is a pretty complex game, there’s a lot going on, you need to be able to adapt. I would think the running for the blockers wouldn’t be that hard for him to do. Depending on position and player, a player might avoid running for space and run for the tackler instead, so for Wade although it’s innate for him to run for space, away from tacklers, he would also understand, from his rugby days, that sometimes it makes sense not to do that. So being told to follow or run for the blockers wouldn’t be too foreign a concept to him. Not sure how he goes for pace. He’s quick, but I guess not super quick compared to some of the other running backs? He would be good at evading a tackler, from the small amount of football I’ve watched, offensive players go down quite easily when tackled, maybe that’s to protect the ball, i.e hold the ball with two hands, a rugby player would carry with one arm and use the other for a handoff/fend.
Can he kick? If so we’ll take him
Can he kick? If so we’ll take him
Yeah he’d be able to kick reasonably well.
Can he kick? If so we’ll take him
Are you talking about goal kicking or kicking in open play? He wouldn’t have much if any experience in kicking for goal, certainly not in actual games (I’m sure he’ll have kicked in practice at some point). As a winger in rugby the type of kicking he’s good at is kicking from hand in open play - e.g. running with the ball then chipping it over the top of oncoming tacklers to either collect it himself or for a team-mate to run onto it. Or doing a grubber kick which is the same idea but a low kick that goes through the defence along the ground instead of over the top. Not sure if that sort of kicking happens or is allowed in NFL? Of course one huge difference between the sports is that in rugby you can’t tackle a man without the ball, so kicking over or through the defence makes a lot of sense as would-be tacklers then have to turn and chase the ball and can’t block the man.
The Bills didn’t play him at all in the 3rd preseason game. That’s not a good sign for him at the 3rd game is typically the main ‘dress rehersal’ game for the starters.
The problem for Wade is that the other RBs played OK. No one came across as a clear cut.
LeSean McCoy played well - it looks like he isn’t getting released. Frank Gore is looking old but he played ok… I love the guy but I could see him being released. TY Yelton played OK - particularly receiving, Devin Singleterry ain’t getting cut.
I didn’t see much of Patrick DiMarco but he may have been playing and just didn’t stand out - I still don’t get the love affair coaches have with that high paid fullback.