Gary Neville, Ian Wright and Jamie Carragher left stunned as JJ Watt details cut-throat nature of NFL
The NFL is a brutal place to be as Gary Neville, Jamie Carragher and Ian Wright found out.
The former Premier League players, along with Roy Keane and Jill Scott were speaking to JJ Watt, who is now a minority investor at Burnley and someone who spent 12 seasons in the NFL before calling time on his career in 2022.
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Appearing on the podcast, Watt was discussing Louis Rees-Zammit's decision to quit rugby union and begin a career in American football.
The ex-Wales international has linked up with Super Bowl winner Kansas City Chiefs, but Watt explained that doesn't mean he has made it just yet.
He said: "I don't think it's a slam dunk like, 'Yes, he's absolutely going to make it,' at least from what I know. I know a little bit about it, but he does have a chance."
Watt then said players won't care about his background because there's only one thing on their mind in pre-season.
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"The NFL is such a cut-throat business.
"I don't think anybody would even give a second thought to [where Rees-Zammit has come from], because there's only 53 spots and you start the roster with 90.
"So that means you're cutting all those guys to get down, so you don't care."
This took the room by surprise so much so that they checked whether teams do that every year.
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Watt continued: "Yeah. Every year, every team's roster starts with 90 at the beginning of training camp, and then by the opening day you have to get to 53."
As Neville was left staggered by '37 people getting bombed every year', Carragher posed a question as to what happens to those that weren't kept on."
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Issuing a one-word response, Watt simply said: "Home."
It left the panel to break into laughter at the brutality of the sport, with Watt explaining the harsh reality.
"You get paid for a couple weeks at training camp, but you go home. Most guys are like, 'Oh that's the dream'.
"And a lot of people will say like, 'I played in the NFL for a cup of coffee,' because they came in for training camp and got cut, and they never actually played in a real NFL game.
"That's another big difference between the Premier League and the NFL, at any point in the season you can get cut, like week seven in the season, you can get cut and be done.
"And you can get also picked back up the next week by the same team or a different team, over here [in England], you're on the same team until the transfer window."
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