Sebastian Vollmer is far from seeing American football and the hype surrounding the NFL in Germany at their peak.
The makers of the NFL “recognized Germany as an extremely important sales market. I can’t even imagine what it will look like in ten or 20 years,” said the two-time Super Bowl winner before the draft of the professional league (from Thursday, LIVE on NITRO and on RTL+) in an interview with “stern”.
“Maybe we have our own academy for young talents in Germany, maybe our own NFL schools, maybe even a German team that plays in the NFL,” said Vollmer: “Everything seems possible.”
Vollmer is an expert in this year’s draft of the best college players for RTL and is even allowed to draw a player on stage for the New England Patriots on the second day of the spectacle in Kansas City. The best football league in the world can be seen on free TV on RTL and NITRO in the future, and also as a live stream on RTL+.
In an interview with “stern”, Vollmer also recalled what it was like when he was picked as an offensive tackle by the New England Patriots in the second round of the draft in 2009.
“On the day of the draft, I went to a sandwich shop with my then-girlfriend, who is now my wife,” he said. “We’re standing at the counter when the cell phone rings. I don’t hear anything until she says, ‘ Uh, don’t you want to answer it?’ Withheld number, I’ll answer and then it was the New England Patriots saying they’ll pick me. I then ordered the sandwiches to go from the waiter.”
It was the beginning of a success story. With the Patriots around superstar Tom Brady, Vollmer won the Super Bowl in 2014 and 2016, a year later he ended his NFL career.
In this year’s draft, German hopes rest on Kilian Zierer. For the Bavarian, who played for the Auburn Tigers in college, the dream of the NFL could come true. “I would wish for him to come to a team where he doesn’t have to play from the start so that he can learn and mature,” said Vollmer: “But Zierer has everything that the NFL needs: the Skills, the length, the weight.”
Vollmer gave the budding NFL professionals advice: “Don’t throw in the towel when you have setbacks. Setbacks will come,” he warned: “The college players were stars at their universities, they were greeted with kisses everywhere on campus. As rookies “You get into an environment where there’s a 35-year-old who’s been in the league for many years and he’s trying to knock them out so they don’t steal his starting spot. You’re a team, but you’re also in competition with each other. You have to deal with that .”
In addition, a young football player must learn “to say no too,” emphasized Vollmer – and specified: “No to their own relatives, who always want to have something. You can’t feed everyone. I know of players who received a bill from their own mother: I raised you for 20 years, you owe me that much, boy. The player paid back a million from his rookie salary, but the relationship with his mother was broken. The fat money makes some crazy.”