A total of eight foreign players, six of whom are Nigerian linemen, were assigned to NFL teams on Thursday as part of the league’s foreign Player Pathway programme for the 2023 season.
Players from Australia and France will also be represented at clubs, beginning with training camps in July.
It’s the most players ever assigned to squads in a single year under the NFL’s global development programme, which was launched in 2017 to provide opportunities for global athletes to learn and practise with NFL clubs and maybe land positions on elite American football rosters.
After 38 athletes from 13 nations tried out at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, 13 were chosen for the 2023 program and spent 10 weeks training in Florida with a chance to showcase their skills in front of NFL scouts.
All 32 NFL teams have now received a player through the program since it began.
French defensive lineman Junior Aho, 24, will join the Minnesota Vikings. Aho played three seasons at Southern Methodist University, making 25 solo tackles.
In addition to Aho in the NFC North, Australian tight end Patrick Murtagh, 23, will join Detroit with Nigerian defensive lineman Kenneth Odumegwu, 22, going to Green Bay and Nigerian offensive lineman Roy Mbaeteka, 23, joining Chicago.
Four Nigerian players will join AFC West lineups with the reigning Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs welcoming 22-year-old offensive lineman Chukwuebuka Godrick.
Others include defensive lineman Haggai Chisom Ndubuisi (22), David Ebuka Agoha (21), and Basil Chijioke Okoye (21), all to the Denver Broncos.
Osi Umenyiora, a two-time Super Bowl champion born in London to Nigerian parents, is overseeing NFL development efforts in Africa and was instrumental in bringing Nigerians into the league’s programme.
“To see these fantastic young Nigerian men achieve their dream to be on an NFL roster is incredibly exciting,” he said.
37 global players have signed with NFL clubs since the program’s inception, including four IPP players on active squads — Mailata, Germans David Bada of Washington and Jakob Johnson of Las Vegas, and Nigerian-born Briton Efe Obada of Washington.