Former Wallaby Jordan Petaia’s NFL journey could be over as soon as it started, after the 25-year-old was suddenly cut by the Los Angeles Chargers.
Signed as a tight end, Petaia was on the field for just three plays in his NFL debut last Friday when the Chargers’ thrashed the Detroit Lions in the league’s pre-season opener.
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In a cruel twist, Petaia was released because of an undisclosed injury designation not even a week later. His position on the roster was replaced by another Aussie in Thomas Yassmin.
It means that Petaia has lost his International Pathways Player slot and in turn, a guarantee he would stay on the roster beyond the NFL’s end-of-pre-season roster cuts where teams whittle their roster down from 90 to 53 players in readiness for the start of the regular season early next month.
Petaia is now free to sign with another team but this latest move from the Chargers is a massive blow to the former Wallaby’s NFL dream.
While unfortunate for Petaia, Yassmin has been given another chance after being cut by the Denver Broncos in May.
Yassmin, a tight end who played college football at Utah, spent last season on Denver’s practice squad, but never featured on game day.
Yassmin attended the prestigious Scots College in Sydney and played in the Australian Schoolboys rugby union side before relocating to America.
He played at Utah from 2018-2023 and then signed with Denver as an undrafted free agent the following year.
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