Aussie agent who helped Jordan Mailata become an NFL superstar says Payne Haas would succeed in American Football, reveals poaching bid

That is the view of Australia’s only accredited NFL agent, Dwane Bugden, the man who helped deliver Jordan Mailata to American Football and once fielded offers to send Haas to the US.

Haas will join South Sydney next season, but at age 26, time is still on his side if the NSW Origin enforcer wanted to try his luck in the NFL at the completion of his Rabbitohs deal.

Bugden revealed he first fielded an inquiry from NFL clubs for Haas eight years ago, when he was a teenager at the Broncos and Mailata was on the verge of clinching a rookie deal with Philadelphia.

Mailata is now a $105 million Super Bowl-winning success story with Philadelphia and Bugden says Haas has the size, athletic ability and aerobic capacity to be a smash hit in the NFL.

“Payne Haas would have killed it in the NFL,” Bugden said.

“One of my good mates, Jon Shaw, was the head pro scout at the Indianapolis Colts and he was the first guy to want Payne Haas and Jordan Mailata.

“I remember showing him footage of Payne and he said, ‘I want him now, just send him to me’.

“John has got probably one of the best eyes in the game in America and he was disappointed that Payne Haas never wanted to really do it.”

Bugden this week played a key role in the latest Aussie to sign an NFL deal, with Sydney’s Jarrod Gray, who stands 201cm and weighs 145kg, inking a $3 million deal with the New York Giants.

“Jarrod can have the same success that Jordan Mailata has had,” he said.

“There were five or six clubs keen to sign Jarrod, but he went with the Giants, which shows how in-demand he was.

“Every Australian who wants to have a crack at the NFL has to not only be big and athletic, but they need intellect, because Aussies are competing against American kids who have been playing the game since they were five years old.

“Jarrod has developed very quickly, he’s done an amazing job.”

Haas is famed for his strong mindset in the NRL and Bugden says that trait would taken the champion Broncos prop a long way in the NFL.

“Payne Haas would have made the NFL easily,” he said.

“Payne absolutely could have made it like Mailata. Athletically he’s a freak, but it’s more than athleticism. His mindset is elite.

“In the NFL, every play lasts five seconds and those five seconds have to be perfect.

“Payne is the type of guy that has a head space where everything is important and what he does is precise.”