Alex Gray: Ex-England Sevens player signs new Atlanta Falcons deal

Alex Gray has played five pre-season games for the Atlanta Falcons

Former England Sevens rugby player Alex Gray has signed a reserve future contract with the Atlanta Falcons.

The 26-year-old, the first English professional rugby union player to join the NFL, has been a tight-end in the Falcons' practice squad.

He played in pre-season games but was ineligible to be activated during the current season.

However, the new deal means he will be under contract once the new league year begins in early March.

• From missing out on Olympic silver to playing for the Falcons

NFL roster sizes will expand to a maximum of 90 players at the start of the league year, but teams must stick to a 53-man roster until that point. A futures contract is essentially an agreement that a player will be under contract with a team once the new league year begins.

"Contract signed!!" he tweeted. "Not many will know what it took to get to this point. Thank you to everyone who believed in me from day one. This is just the start, but I can't wait to give it everything I've got."

Gray previously played club rugby for Newcastle Falcons and London Irish but his dream of playing at the 2016 Olympics was ended by an ankle injury picked up the weekend before GB's final squad was named

The back row turned centre, who stands at 6ft 6in, moved to Atlanta in May as part of the league's International Player Pathway programme.

The Falcons lost to the New England Patriots in last year's Super Bowl and are out of the running this year after losing to the Philadelphia Eagles in the NFC Divisional play-offs.