Christian Wade played all the sports growing up. As Wade got older, his attention turned to playing one professionally, with three in the mix.

"I play soccer and I really want to do it, but we only played Sunday league games and trained on a Saturday the day before. Athletics is kind of only in the summer. I do a little bit, but it's too much with the school work. So I was like, ‘If I go down this rugby route then that could be the way forward for me to become a professional,’ so that's kind of what made that decision for me," said Wade.

The next decade proved rugby was the right decision, playing for the England national team multiple times as well as in the top pro leagues internationally, etching his name near the top of record books.

But a few years ago Wade began thinking about another pro pursuit: American football, and the NFL.

"They started coming over to England a lot more and I was able to see it firsthand a lot more and was like, ‘This game is real cool’ and something I wanted to get involved in. Then you saw a few guys go into the Pathway Program and they were getting good results. The way that they were able to train and make the transition was something that I was intrigued about,” he said.

Last year that intrigue peaked with Wade deciding to leave the game he became elite at for one he knew nearly nothing about.

"I just had this desire inside me that was helping me to keep a stable mind in terms of this is what I want to do and I want to go at it 100%. But it was definitely a big, scary decision. To leave everything behind and go do something that I basically have no right to go and do and try and pursue,” said Wade.

"A lot of people probably think it's crazy and stuff, but I'd rather be crazy and go for it than to look back and be like, 'ah, I had the opportunity to go and do that, but I never did it.' It would always be an unknown."

That opportunity came with the NFL's International Pathway Program, where Wade is one of four guys getting a shot at making a roster — which is a long way from his school days trying out the game.

"We used to mess around with an American football, but no one could really throw it properly,” he said.

Wade is literally learning football from the ground-level. He's never seen a playbook. Running precise routes is new.

As is equipment, like wearing a helmet.

"When I put it on I felt like it was real tight. I was like, 'Oh, it's a bit tight.' Tried to put it on and was a bit weird. Felt like I was one of those bobbleheads where I couldn't find my center of gravity and I was like this. Yeah, it was real cool. And obviously I did the normal thing like hitting the helmet and see what contact would feel like and my ears were ringing and stuff and I was like, 'Oh this doesn't feel like it's going to be nice on impact,’” he said.

Wade began his football education just this past November, first at IMG Academy in Florida and then Orchard Park with the Bills, where blending in is somewhat of a compliment.

"Some of them assume that I've played football before. So they're saying that I don't look out of place. Like I look like I've been playing for a while and stuff. So when they realize I've only been playing this year, for them they're saying that that's a good thing that I'm not out of place and stuff. So I take encouragement from that,” said Wade.

Still, the 28-year-old knows standing out is what ultimately matters most in hopes of sticking with Bills. He'll soon return stateside to Florida and train with fellow backs LeSean McCoy and Frank Gore before returning to Western New York for the biggest tryout of his life.

"I don't have an expectation for making the team or all that sort of stuff. Obviously everyone wants to make the team, but I'm just going to control what I can control. Playbook, making plays, and then whatever the Bills organization requires, if they see that I have something that they want to use, then so be it. If there isn't anything and maybe I need more time to develop or whatever it may be, that's obviously what will happen,” said Wade.

Which could be through a roster exemption to keep Wade as an 11th guy on the Bills practice squad — nearly 11 months from when his American football journey began.