We’re slowly but surely inching closer to the NFL season (kickoff is in 9 days), and today was a big step in getting to the opening day of professional football.
If you happened to miss the news, today was the official deadline for NFL teams to trim their rosters down to 53 players. That means that a number of people who were chasing their dream of playing in the NFL were sent home, yet it also meant that some had their dreams comes true.
One player that made their teams final roster cut was Lou Hedley, who is now officially the punter for the New Orleans Saints. You might think that a team’s punting competition would be pretty boring, but Hedley’s story alone is enough to make things interesting.
Only a few years ago, Lou Hedley was working as a scaffolder in Indonesia, where he also owned a tattoo parlor and gave out some pretty killer tats. One day, he decided to chase his dreams and try out football, which led him to a small college out in California before he eventually landed at the University of Miami.
Long story short, he’s now a 30-year-old rookie punter who just competed for and won his professional team’s punting competition. It would be safe to say that he is now one of the best 32 punters in the world, and he’s really just got started in his career.
A post about him today has garnered a lot of attention for Hedley and his feel good story:
“New Saints punter Lou Hedley is from Australia, and is a 30 year old undrafted rookie. He owned a tattoo shop in Bali, Indonesia and worked as a scaffolder.
He then pursued his dream and started punting at City College in San Francisco and then at the University of Miami. Talk about making it and never giving up.”
It looks like NFL fans are ready to welcome the journeyman into the league with open arms, sending out replies to the story saying:
How great! I wish him well & will keep an eye 👁️ out when the Saints play this season!
— SuperCharger⚡️ (@supercharger) August 29, 2023
Holy Crap! Great story.
Probably gonna consider sharing my King Cake with him!! 🤔 maybe…— KCJonathan (@FuckLinElliot) August 29, 2023
never stop chasing ya dreams pic.twitter.com/Q3paDMF3xu
— kenn (@ogsawc) August 29, 2023
Great story, love to hear success stories like this.
— supreme penny (Grylle) 🐸 (@Ashadowempire) August 29, 2023
I have a Job for him as a scaffolder once the punting thing is over. Call me bud 👀😂
— Lukas McLean (@LukasMcLean90) August 29, 2023
