Travis Clayton interview: Buffalo Bills star on swapping rugby for the NFL

Had you played on the wing against Basingstoke in the eighth tier of English rugby a few years ago, you would have had a nasty surprise looking at your opposite number.

At 6ft 7in and 137kg, Travis Clayton isn’t your typical winger. With a build like that, he might be expected to play in the back row of the scrum, but Basingstoke had other ideas. “I think they wanted to try something different just to see what would happen,” he laughs. “But it was cool. We had a good time.”

Thankfully for opposition wingers, his physical prowess has led him on another path: to the NFL.

Clayton’s speed was the main reason Basingstoke fielded him on the wing – and it was also one of the things that made scouts sit up and take notice. He ran the 40-yard dash in 4.79 seconds – the fastest time for any offensive lineman at the NFL Combine in 10 years.

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And last year he was picked 221st by the Buffalo Bills in the Draft. Bounding up on stage with a Union Jack around his shoulders, Clayton looked ecstatic. In one incredible moment, he had been transformed from an amateur sportsman with an office job to a professional at the pinnacle of sport.

A shoulder injury a week into his first training camp with the Bills put paid to any chance of an immediate breakthrough, but a year on and the 24-year-old can see the positive side. “It's been a bit of a crazy journey, a few ups and downs,” Clayton told Mirror Sport in an interview for our 56-page NFL season preview publication, which is available in shops now.

“You have the high of being drafted last year in the seventh round, which is the best moment of my life – that's exactly what I wanted it to happen – to then be injured throughout the first year which wasn't ideal. But if I'm comparing myself from where I was this time last year to where I am now, I think the progress that I’ve made, whether it's physically or mentally, has been really really big.”

How could it not be? Clayton has been thrown into the deep end of the NFL, with one of the best sides, and been asked to swim. Having spent time with the NFL Academy in 2019 and then the International Player Pathway (IPP), he knew the basics, but the complexities of the sport are infamously tough for newcomers.

After tearing his labrum, Clayton was put on the injured reserved list (IR) for the whole 2024 season. He was not allowed to train, so instead threw himself into trying to get his head around the many complexities of being an offensive lineman.

“I don't think people understand how much goes on in each position in the NFL, the things that you need to remember and the technique that you need to use,” he says. “The way you need to react if the defence does this, there's so many different and complex things that are happening on the line of scrimmage at one time.”

While NFL sides can see potential in terms of physicality before drafting a player, the aspect of being a fast learner is also absolutely crucial to breaking through. Having played rugby, tennis and football – he had trials with Chelsea, Southampton and Reading as a youngster – Clayton comes well equipped in that regard too.

“It proves that everything isn't just size,” he explains. “You have to be able to apply the correct technique. You have to be coachable. If you're doing this technique wrong the day before, the coach doesn't want to see you doing it wrong the next day. I think that's the biggest change of my mindset: being drafted was great, but it doesn’t stop there.”

What makes Clayton’s story all the more remarkable is that, before he spotted an advert for the NFL Academy, he had very little exposure to American football. He simply saw the opportunity and backed himself. Having always wanted to be a professional sportsman, but not set on which sport, he went to a trial. “I just thought my genetics worked hand in hand with being an NFL player,” he says.

Clayton actually dropped out that time around, but thankfully was picked up by the IPP in 2024, alongside Wales rugby star Louis Rees-Zammit. A 10-week training camp followed in Florida before that eye-catching 40-yard dash and, eventually, a move to Buffalo.

Despite the initial disappointment of injury, Clayton has settled well, acquiring a rescue dog to keep him company and hanging out with some of his team-mates when their schedule allows. He is tasked with protecting star quarterback Josh Allen and is working alongside some of the most talented players in the sport.

While he works away at achieving his dream, there is proof out there that it can work in the form of Jordan Mailata, an Australian ex-rugby league star turned Super Bowl-winning left-tackle with the Philadelphia Eagles.

“He's definitely someone I've looked up to over the years,” Clayton says. “Even when I gave up the NFL Academy, he was definitely still someone that I was looking up to coming from that rugby background going into the NFL.

“And he actually came to the International Player Pathway last year, so I was able to speak to him. It was just good to see that this can actually happen. From where he's been to where he is now, it is just amazing.”

Now fully fit, Clayton has been working hard in pre-season ahead of August 27, when the Bills will name their 53-man roster for the 2025 season. “I'm trying not to look too much in the future,” he says. “I'm trying to just take every day as it comes because I'm basically still new to the sport and it kind of does feel like my first year again. I'm trying to work hard every single day, just trying to be one per cent better because the progress doesn't happen overnight.”

He knows that breaking through with the Bills will be harder than at other NFL teams, but his outlook is clear: “This is the best job in the world ”.

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