Christian Wade confident he can make Buffalo Bills roster despite Covid-19 crisis limiting NFL auditions

Christian Wade says this season may be “make or break” for his NFL aspirations, but believes he has every chance of earning a spot on the Buffalo Bills’ roster, despite the coronavirus pandemic starving him of opportunities to impress.

The former England rugby union star decided to transition to American football in late 2018 and announced his arrival with a stunning 65-yard touchdown in the Bills’ pre-season clash with the Indianapolis Colts last August.

The running back’s inexperience meant he failed to make the team’s 53-man roster for the regular season, but he kept his place on the practice squad and has continued to develop his understanding of the game.

The pandemic has seen this year’s pre-season games – where Wade would have expected to feature again – cancelled, but the 29-year-old is confident he can prove his worth in training camp before the Bills’ roster is finalised early next month.

“This is my second year and it’s I guess a make or break year,” Wade said. “It’s ironic, the fact that we’re not going to have any pre-season games and this whole crazy situation.

“I believe I do [have a chance to make the roster], because of the way that the Bills organisation and everything is set up.

"Coach [Sean McDermott] really believes in choosing the best players to be a part of the team, to be in the squad, so I feel as though if I prove myself in practice – and he’s giving us lots of opportunities to really put our best foot forwards – then I’ll really have a chance to make the team.”

The pandemic also scuppered many of Wade’s off-season plans.

He was forced to return to the US early on during the outbreak because of fears over the difficulties of travelling back for training camps if stricter measures were imposed, while he had also hoped to meet up with fellow Brit, Carolina Panthers defensive end Efe Obada, to train in London.

“When we go home, we have the contacts and partnership with Tottenham Hotspur, so we’re usually able to go and train at their facility,” he said. “We probably wouldn’t have been able to go there anyway with the virus so we probably would have found a park or something where we could’ve worked out.

“There was a video that went out with Efe working his hands on the pads – it was all that kind of stuff that we were going to do. Obviously, if we were going to do some races, he wouldn’t be able to keep up!”

Had he not made the bold transatlantic switch, Wade might have been part of the Wasps side that returned to action for the first time since rugby’s Covid-19 shutdown with victory at Northampton on Sunday.

However, even facing the cut-throat business of training camp, the former wing insists he is confident he made the right decision in crossing the pond in search of a new challenge.

“There’s no regrets whatsoever on my side,” he added. “When I make a decision, I’ve already thought it out in my mind. I’m not someone to make to make spur of the moment decisions. When it’s a big decision, if I’ve made it, it’s something I’ve thought about.

“There’s definitely no regrets. The whole reason I came out here was that an opportunity presented itself and I wanted to test myself against the best athletes in the world, to put myself in a situation where I knew I was going to be uncomfortable but it’d make me grow as a man and an athlete as well.

"Whatever comes of that, I guess, is meant to be.”