Louis Rees-Zammit, the former Wales rugby sensation, has inked a deal with the reigning Super Bowl champions, the Kansas City Chiefs.
The 23-year-old attracted interest from multiple NFL teams, holding discussions with the New York Jets, Cleveland Browns, and Denver Broncos.
Having been part of the 2024 international player pathway (IPP), Rees-Zammit makes the move to the Chiefs a mere 10 weeks after departing Welsh rugby ahead of the Six Nations tournament.
Expressing his excitement, Rees-Zammit, in a video shared on X, eagerly anticipates connecting with Chiefs supporters at the famed Arrowhead Stadium.
Prior to this transition, Rees-Zammit was reportedly earning around £225,000 annually at Gloucester, supplemented by bonuses for his performances with Wales.
With his new NFL venture, Rees-Zammit is set to earn £9,500 per week if he lands a spot on the practice squad, totaling £170,000 over the NFL season, as per The Telegraph.
Should Rees-Zammit secure a spot on the final 53-man roster, he stands to make a minimum of £594,350 per year, meeting the NFL’s baseline salary threshold of $750,000.
In contrast, the top earners on the Chiefs roster include superstar quarterback Patrick Mahomes, who commands an impressive £42 million ($52.65 million) annually, and tight end Travis Kelce, who rakes in a substantial £11.3 million ($14.3 million) per season, according to Chiefs Wire.
Meanwhile, running back Isiah Pacheco is currently on a rookie deal, earning slightly over £740,000 ($934,000) per season in his second year with the team, as reported by DAZN.
Premiership’s highest paid player each season from 1998 to 2023
We’ve identified the highest-paid Premiership player for every season since the game went professional to find out.
To do so, we’ve undertook painstaking research to delve into newspaper archives to reveal the reported player wages.
Some seasons had multiple highest earners with players signing contracts at different times throughout the campaign but they’ve used the highest earner at the end of each season.
Got it? Good.
Let’s take a look at the results:
1997-1998: Va’aiga Tuigamala (Newcastle Falcons) – £80,000 per season
Embed from Getty Images1999-2000: Francois Pienaar (Saracens) – £85,000 per season
Embed from Getty Images2000-2001: Jason Robinson (Sale Sharks) – £180,000 per season
Embed from Getty Images