Theres got to be a first for everything USWNT star Carli Llo

PHILADELPHIA It started with a , but one week later, Carli Lloyd has found herself talking seriously about becoming an NFL kicker and fielding offers to do so as well.
The U.S. womens national team forward nailed a 55-yard field goal at a joint practice se sion for the Philadelphia Eagles and Baltimore Ravens last week, impre sively Joc Pederson Jersey doing so through goal posts that were narrower than regulation width.
That video set the internet ablaze and just days later, Lloyd was to kick for an unnamed NFL team in an exhibition game.
The 37-year-old turned down the offer due to a scheduling conflict with her day job: The USWNT takes on Portugal in Philadelphia on Thursday as part of its five-game World Cup victory tour.
Lloyd, however, was bullish on her chances Alex Wood Jersey of eventually making history as the first woman to play in the NFL.
"Theres got to be a first for everything,"Lloyd said Wednesday. "I know that mentally you need to have thick skin, youve got to be mentally tough.
"I invite pre sure, I love pre sure, I've got that all kind of ticked off and now its just a matter of knowing if I can do it and go from there."
Lloyd is well aware that doing it in an actual football game is far different than what she accomplished in a practice se sion last week.
For one, shell have to do so with a helmet and pads on. She also wont have the luxury of kicking without any resistance in front of her.
"I'd maybe need a couple 300-pound men to rush at me,"Lloyd said.
Additionally, the two-time World Cup champion took a five-step run-up when she was practicing field goals. Most NFL kickers only have time Rich Hill Jersey to take two steps.
"I want to actually go out there and try to take a two-step kick to make sure that I can actually do it,"Lloyd said. "If I can do that from a pretty good distance, then I would feel a lot more comfortable."
Shell have to master several ancillary skills, but Lloyd does have two of the most important attributes any succe sful kicker needs: power and accuracy.
"I think 100 percent she can do it," USWNT head coach Jill Ellis said. "No doubt in my mind.
"I remember when I first came on the scene I saw Carli Lloyd strike a ball on goal and I said, Holy crap Manny Machado Jersey , thats the hardest Ive ever seen a woman hit a ball.'So she certainly has the velocity and the technique."

Ellis is set to leave her position in October and when her replacement comes in, Lloyd will have much more clarity on whether her future will involve footballs of a round or oblong shape.
"I'm waiting on a new coach to be announced and if that coach would like to see me in the Olympic plans, then I'm all for it," Lloyd said of next summer's tournament in Tokyo.
"But if that coach doesn't, then Alex Verdugo Jersey Ive got to think of some other things that I want to do."
There is, of course, one other hurdle Lloyd would have to overcome to be an NFL player, which Los Angeles Chargers wide receiver Keenan Allen described on Twitter on Tuesday.
"Sound sweet til somebody block the kick and all of a sudden she on defense,". "Would be like the stampede scene in the lion king movie.She do got a boot tho!"
Kickers find themselves on the receiving end of hits most often on kickoffs, but a team could theoretically use their punter for those. But, as Allen said, if Lloyd saw one of her field-goal attemptsblocked, shed be fair game.
Could Lloyd take a hit? Most NFL kickers are among their teams' smallest and most vulnerable players anyway, and Lloyd is under no illusions that she'd be any different.
"You cant really Albert Pujols Jersey touch a kicker, but it happens,"Lloyd said. I'm not naive to that.
"But, yeah, 300 pounds coming at me, I'd probably try to give my best shot, but I don't know, I might be in the hospital after that."