Jarryd Hayne quitting NFL to play Olympic rugby for Fiji

Jarryd Hayne’s NFL adventure is over, at least for now.

After leaving rugby to spend a year in the NFL, Hayne is returning to his original sport to represent Fiji in the upcoming Olympics.

“I am retiring from the NFL because the Fiji Rugby Sevens team reached out to me about the opportunity to join the team for the upcoming Olympics, and I simply could not pass that chance up,” Hayne said in a statement, via NFL Media’s Kevin Patra. “The Olympics has been something I have admired since I was a little boy, and it is an opportunity I feel very similar to me joining the NFL.”

The 28-year-old was a rugby star in Australia before making the jump to the NFL. He dazzled during preseason and gained something of a cult following, but he didn’t get much of a look after being relegated to 49ers’ practice squad duty.

As recently as February, Hayne said he wanted to return to the NFL, but things clearly changed. You can’t blame the guy for abandoning what would have been an effort to be the last man on an NFL roster when the chance to play in the Olympics came along instead.