Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
North Broward Prep alum Reyes signs with Washington
Sammis Reyes’ bid to play in the NFL is paying off.
The Chilean former North Broward Prep basketball player, who joined the NFL’s International Player Pathway Program looking for a spot with a professional team, signed with the Washington Football Team, the team announced on Tuesday.
Reyes moved from Chile to South Florida as a teenager, hoping to pursue a basketball career. After graduating from North Broward Prep, he played basketball at Palm Beach State and at Tulane, but a professional basketball career did not materialize. So he turned his attention to football.
“I wanted to go to the NBA; that was my dream my entire childhood, and of course it never happened,” Reyes told the Sun Sentinel in January. “So when I was 23, my current agent, my family and my close friends, they were like, ... ‘You’ve got to give this football thing a shot. You’re fast, you’re strong, you’re powerful.’ So my friends, my best friends, and everybody around me convinced me to give it a shot.”
Reyes worked with a trainer to transition from basketball to football, and he earned a spot in the International Player Pathway Program.
Reyes spent 10 weeks training at IMG Academy in Bradenton, become more adept at football, and participated in a Pro Day at the University of Florida on March 31. He drew attention at the workout day, doing 31 bench-press reps and running a 4.65 40-yard dash.
The NFL typically picks one division at random, and those teams have the opportunity to sign players in the International Player Pathway Program to their practice squad. Before the program concluded and teams could pick players through the program, Washington elected to sign Reyes, according to a press release.
“There is so much talent outside of the boundaries of the U.S,” Reyes told the Sun Sentinel. “There are other guys in the world that are 6-6, 6-7, can run, can catch, are strong. So it’s just a matter of going to find that talent. And the NFL, with this program that started in 2017, has done a great job reaching out to people.”