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Message: [QUOTE="Foordy, post: 2891364, member: 1769"] [CENTER][ATTACH=full]2119[/ATTACH] [/CENTER] [SIZE=6][B]Former NFL player Silas Redd signs with Ipswich Jets, with hopes to breaking into NRL[/B][/SIZE] BRISBANE Broncos feeder-club Ipswich Jets have signed a former NFL star who hopes to become the first American football player in 40 years to break into the NRL. Speaking exclusively to [I]The Sunday Mail[/I], Silas Redd has outlined his dream to conquer rugby league in Australia after purchasing a one-way ticket to play for Broncos affiliate club Ipswich next season. The 25-year-old was a US college sensation who played 15 NFL games as a running back for the Washington Redskins in 2014. Ipswich co-coaches Ben and Shane Walker handed Redd a Jets contract a fortnight ago after he scored a try in his first ever game of rugby league in an exhibition match between Ipswich and Tweed Heads in Hawaii. Redd was a member of the Washington Redskins two years ago when he recalled an NRL star named Jarryd Hayne signing with NFL rivals San Francisco. Now Redd plans to be an American trailblazer by becoming the first NFL product in four decades to play top-level rugby league. There will be no NFL-style $1 million-plus deal when Redd arrives in Brisbane just after Christmas to begin training with Ipswich. The Connecticut-born athletic whiz will earn $400 for a win and $200 for a loss when he turns out for the Jets next season. “I absolutely want to play in the NRL,” Redd said yesterday, speaking from the US. “I would love to be a trailblazer for American athletes. I have a total commitment to this. I am treating this seriously. I really hope this whole process works out for me and maybe one day I can convince some other former NFL players to try playing rugby league. “Going into this journey, I don’t want to embarrass the game of rugby league and I don’t want to embarrass myself. “The NRL guys are amazing athletes, they are up with the best athletes in the world, so I am totally committed to being the best I can be in the sport.” Rugby league has a fascinating history with American athletes. In 1977, NFL star Manfred Moore made his first-grade debut for the Newtown Jets, just 98 days after winning the Super Bowl with the Oakland Raiders. He scored a try on debut but lasted just four games before returning home. Redd, who is 178cm and 96kg and ran 4.70 sec in the 40-yard dash at an NFL Combine, is no sporting mug. In four years of College football, he amassed 2959 yards and scored 19 touchdowns. A three-minute video on Youtube shows him repeatedly cutting through college defences. After a superb rookie NFL year at Washington, Redd snapped his ACL in his second pre-season, sending him into a spiral which included marijuana use — prompting a 12-month ban from the NFL. “I definitely wasn’t trying to cheat,” he says. “I was trying to cope with my injury. Instead of taking pain medication, I chose to smoke marijuana and I paid the price for it. “When I tried to get back into the NFL, I was out of shape and my body just couldn’t take it anymore. “I view this as an amazing opportunity. I’m still only 25, so I have youth on my side. “Youtube has been my best friend in trying to learn the rules of rugby league. I couldn’t believe the constant movement when I played for Ipswich a few weeks ago. I was vomiting at halftime, so I need to work on my endurance, skills and fitness.” Former Broncos and Queensland Origin centre Chris Walker played alongside Redd in Hawaii and believes he can succeed in the Intrust Super Cup next season. “The way he moves is elite,” Walker said. “He is so strong and is as good athletically as any player in the NRL, but it’s early days. “Once he learns the game, he will definitely be Queensland Cup standard and he might be a chance of making the NRL if he works his butt off.” source: [URL='http://www.couriermail.com.au/sport/nrl/former-nfl-player-silas-redd-signs-with-ipswich-jets-with-hopes-to-breaking-into-nrl/news-story/d42875a4863e13556b5c67d971e4d79b']Sunday Mail[/URL] [/QUOTE]

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