Amateur rugby player who worked at Sainsbury’s drafted into NFL

When Travis Clayton was stocking shelves in his first job at Sainsbury’s, international sporting stardom would have seemed a remote prospect.

But now the 23-year-old who played low-level amateur rugby union for his hometown club in Basingstoke is on the path to making millions after being snapped up by top American Football team the Buffalo Bills.

The 6ft 7in athlete was chosen as an offensive lineman in the draft selection process for the NFL - the top tier of the sport - but he has never before played a game of American football.

Clayton was selected from the NFL’s international player pathway (IPP), which aims to increase the number of players from outside America in the sport.

He could eventually earn tens of millions of dollars a year, after the success in the NFL of Australian former rugby league player Jordan Mailata, who this month signed a $66 million extension to his contract with the Philadelphia Eagles.

Clayton’s mother, Nicky, who travelled to Detroit to support him ahead of the draft, says she “couldn’t be prouder” of her “special” son.

“We are over the moon to announce that Travis Clayton has just been drafted into the NFL Buffalo Bills,” she wrote in a Facebook post. “He is so special. We couldn’t be prouder and love you so much.”

After learning he had been picked by the Bills at Saturday night’s annual draft event in Detroit, Clayton said: “I don’t think it’s really going to kick in yet until I actually get to Buffalo. But at the moment, it’s a world of emotions going on right now. It’s crazy.”

A video posted to X by the official NFL UK and Ireland account on Saturday night shows his friends gathered around a flat screen TV in a living room back in his hometown, cheering jubilantly as it was announced that he had been chosen to play for the New-York based team.

Earlier this year, Clayton was working for an employment background screening company, and before that he was a customer service assistant at Sainsbury’s.

Clayton showed sporting promise growing up, playing football for Fulham’s academy while also having trials at Reading, Southampton and Chelsea, and trying his hand at rowing and boxing before taking up rugby.

He later joined his home club, Basingstoke, a team in the eighth tier of domestic rugby union.

He said having played a team sport “helps tremendously” with his new American football career, adding: “More importantly, playing the wing in rugby helps with the physicality side and with agility.”

Clayton ran a 40-yard dash in 4.79 seconds in an NFL draft event that collects data from aspirant players.

The Bills said his dash was faster than all the other offensive lineman have recorded over the past 10 years. The position is traditionally taken by powerfully built athletes, some weighing more than 20 stone. Clayton weighs in at 301lb, or 21.5 stone.

Thanking his fans back home after the draft, Clayton wrote on social media: “Just want to shout out all the UK fans for sticking by me and supporting me and look, I’ve made it to the NFL and now it’s time to represent and show the rest of the world exactly why UK athletes should play in the NFL.”

His selection sees him join Louis Rees-Zammit in American football after the Welshman signed for Super Bowl champions the Kansas City Chiefs in March.

The former Gloucester, Wales and British and Irish Lions wing stunned the world of rugby in January by quitting the sport in an attempt to secure a contract with an NFL team in 2024.