The Bills have drafted a player who has never played football.
With the first pick in the seventh round of the 2024 NFL draft, Buffalo selected Travis Clayton, an English rugby player who has participated in the NFL’s International Player Pathway program, which identifies athletes from other countries who have the potential to play in the NFL.
Clayton definitely has that potential. He’s 6-foot-7 and 300 pounds and showed off impressive athleticism during his rugby career. He’s reminiscent of Jordan Mailata, who also was a seventh-round pick having played only rugby, not football, and is now the Eagles’ starting left tackle.
Clayton isn’t the only rugby player to enter the NFL this offseason. The Chiefs previously signed Louis Rees-Zammit out of the International Player Pathway program.
Rees-Zammit was able to sign with any team because he is more than four years out of high school. Clayton, because he’s in his fourth year out of high school, was draft eligible.
The Bills think he has a lot of promise as an NFL offensive lineman. Now he’ll get his chance.
