The (National Football League) is the world’s most valuable sports league. The average team is worth $5 billion (€4.6 billion), the league generated $18 billion in revenue in 2023 and regular-season games have been played in , and the UK. The next logical step in the league’s dominance is to internationalize its playing group.
This year’s International Player Pathway (IPP) class is made up of 14 players from 13 countries around the world, with kickers and punters joining later. The group is currently in the midst of a 10-week training camp at the IMG Academy in Florida before showcasing their skills in front of scouts on March 26.
-born Leander Wiegand is hoping this time it works out. Having been unable to make the most of a scholarship at the University of Central Florida in 2021 and not done enough at the IPP combine in 2022, Wiegand is hoping third time’s the charm.
“I want to be a role model for my younger siblings and for the ,” Wiegand said. “For everyone who keeps being told no or whose told that the talent isn’t there or you’re not big enough. “
“It’s kinda cool when someone writes to you and says, if you make it onto [American football video game] I will sign you onto my team regardless of how bad your rating is,” Wiegand added, smiling.
At 196 centimeters (6’5”) and 131kilograms (290 pounds), size is certainly not Wiegand’s problem. At the IMG Academy, he is focused on improving day by day. He starts his day with stretches in the morning before he takes his nutritional supplements and then has breakfast. Then it’s morning meetings with the offensive line coaches. Then it’s preparation training before the gym for strength work. Then lunch and a small break and perhaps some treatment for the body if it’s sore. Then it’s training outside on the field before more meetings and then a break where Wiegand swims and sometimes takes an ice bath. Then he does extra work before dinner and the evening meetings. “It’s an absolute grind,” Wiegand said with a smile.
Odds stacked against them
The as a way of giving international athletes the chance to develop and potentially earn a spot on an NFL roster. There are , none more famous than Jordan Mailata. The Australian, who recently visited the group, is the poster boy of the program. Having arrived in the league via the IPP in 2018, he went on to be a star offensive tackle who won the Super Bowl this year. He is proof that IPP athletes with the right traits can be coached into NFL stars.
“Those traits can be arm length, explosive speed, coordination, balance, the ability to change direction at her great speed, strength and explosive power. Those type of traits are really used within the NFL,” Domenic Fevrier-McPherson, NFL International Football Development Manager, told DW.
Fevrier-McPherson knows these players won’t immediately make the active roster, but their traits give them a real chance of making the practice squad and learning from there. Now, they have to learn about how to mesh their physical abilities with the mental requirements of changing your life to live in America and be an NFL player.
“I believe we’re probably in an NFL building more than any other sport,” Fevrier-McPherson said. “I think probably more than football, more than rugby, more than athletics. So it takes more of your mental focus. You’re spending a lot more time in the building, so guys have to get used to that.”
German kicker with a real NFL chance
The arrival of specialist players such as kickers in the IPP program presents the best chance for international players to make it, and 22-year-old Lenny Krieg from has a real chance.
The German youngster, who gave up on football at 19 having lost the joy in it, taught himself how to kick American footballs by watching tutorials. After one season at the Stuttgart Surge in the European League of Football, Krieg got invited to the NFL Scouting Combine, where he promptly converted all 14 of his field goal attempts from distances between 35 and 55 yards. He was the only one to be perfect on the day and according to a report by ESPN, one scout even said: “He was better than most .”
Krieg, who is developing his craft at the academy by kicking two hours a day and then reviewing his technique on film in the evenings, is honing his craft with the hopes of being an NFL kicker this year.
“It’s an honor for me to make this step and to show young players and perhaps even those who don’t play football, that this bridge can be crossed and that it’s never too late to change sport and have ambition,” Krieg told DW.
Representing something, someone or somewhere
For all of the IPP players, representation is vital. Clearly, it’s in the league’s interests as well but it’s also the driving force for so many.
Paschal Ekeji was born in to parents, before moving to . The former rugby player, who was at the first NFL Africa Camp in in 2022, has taken the unusual decision of swapping an attacking position in his previous sport (wing) for a defensive one in American football (edge rusher). His arm length and feet from rugby give him an edge, but so has the support from back home.
“Being born in Lesotho, a really small country, and me being able to make it, I don’t think I fully understood how much it would impact the kid who lives in Lesotho or Namibia or wherever,” Ekeji told DW.
“We speak about it sometimes in huddles. We think about the people back home that we’re representing, the people who want this opportunity who can’t get it right now. We’re representing those guys so let’s train in the manner where you understand the people who are standing behind you or kind of living through you.”
Wiegand, Krieg, Ekeji and all of those on the IPP program this year represent a global fan and playing base keen to see new local heroes make it to the NFL. At the Pro Day at the end of March, this group will be closer and then a month later comes the NFL draft.
“Everyone in this class has an elite trait,” said Fevrier-McPherson. It’s time to find out if that’s enough.
Edited by: Chuck Penfold
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