{"id":312180,"date":"2025-11-27T12:44:09","date_gmt":"2025-11-27T12:44:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/312180\/"},"modified":"2025-11-27T12:44:09","modified_gmt":"2025-11-27T12:44:09","slug":"meet-the-nfl-outsiders-the-players-and-coaches-not-born-in-the-usa-nfl","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/312180\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet the NFL outsiders: the players and coaches not born in the USA | NFL"},"content":{"rendered":"

The United States is a country of immigrants but the NFL<\/a> remains dominated by players born in the USA. Only 5% of players are born abroad and the majority of them make the step into the sport by going to college in the US. True outsiders are unusual and foreign coaches are especially rare, which makes James Cook\u2019s story remarkable.<\/p>\n

Cook has been in charge of player development at Cleveland Browns<\/a> for the past six months. That\u2019s an achievement in itself but it\u2019s extraordinary considering he grew up in Surrey, is in his late 20s and never played professional sport. Cook discovered the NFL as a 12-year-old when he was channel-flicking with his dad and came across \u201cthis weird and wonderful\u201d sport. He started playing locally and soon wanted to become the first NFL quarterback born in Europe. He got as far as playing for Great Britain but his plans to go to college in the US proved financially prohibitive.<\/p>\n

Instead, he volunteered to help NFL\u2019s nascent International Player Pathway (IPP) \u2013 the programme set up in 2017 to recruit players from abroad \u2013 all while working in a local cinema. \u201cI was scooping popcorn, cleaning seats, flipping burgers, doing a bit of everything. Any time the NFL guys wanted me, I would switch my shifts and help out. Being a quarterback, the one thing I had was I could throw. So when they worked out with players, I\u2019d show up all over London and throw the ball to them. I wasn\u2019t paid but they\u2019d usually buy me lunch.\u201d<\/p>\n

James Cook worked with Charlie Smyth, who swapped Gaelic football for placekicking in the NFL. Photograph: Brooke Sutton\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

This is where he met Aden Durde, who had stints with the Carolina Panthers and Kansas City Chiefs in his playing days before he set up the IPP programme in 2017 with two-time Super Bowl winner Osi Umenyiora. When Durde joined the staff at the Atlanta Falcons, becoming the first British full-time coach in NFL history, Cook took over the IPP. \u201cI had a lot of fun with it, working with some really interesting guys,\u201d he says. \u201cWe had Louis Rees-Zammit<\/a>; Travis Clayton<\/a>, who got drafted by Buffalo; Charlie Smyth<\/a>, the kicker from Ireland who\u2019s now with the Saints. I went to Australia to work with younger players from around the Pacific to get them into college football, like I wanted to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Like Durde before him, Cook made the jump from working with foreign players to coaching in the NFL. \u201cThe Browns called out of the blue,\u201d he says. \u201cThey had a hybrid role supporting younger players, maximising time on the practice field, collaborating with physios, the head coach and general manager. It\u2019s a really hands-on role, which is perfect for me. My background was working with international athletes who had never played the sport. First-year rookies also have to build structure and routines: how to look after their body and deal with a huge playbook. But also just being present for guys. That\u2019s the same everywhere. And I love that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Does being an Englishman who did not play in the NFL hold him back? \u201cIt\u2019s more of a perceived hurdle than an actual one,\u201d says Cook. \u201cI\u2019ve had a lot of reverse Ted Lasso jokes and loads of players call me \u2018bruv\u2019 as they love that. It\u2019s more about checking myself. I say \u2018trash can\u2019 not \u2018bin\u2019. But we get nervous or stressed about the same things and need support in the same ways. If players know you can help them, they don\u2019t care where you\u2019re from or what accent you have. And when people know that you care, all the other stuff melts away.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jordan Mailata, a former IPP player, won the Super Bowl with the Philadelphia Eagles. Photograph: Mitchell Leff\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Coming from outside the NFL bubble has its advantages. \u201cI spoke in front of the entire team very early on and, as we walked out, one of our offensive linemen wanted to talk rugby with me as he loves it. You make those connections and build relationships. People are genuinely intrigued. NFL buildings are more diverse than people think. We have people from all sorts of backgrounds, a range of upbringings. Our mantra at IPP was: \u2018Be uncommon \u2013 you are different so lean into it.\u2019 It\u2019s something to celebrate.\u201d<\/p>\n

The NFL has been more successful at producing foreign fans than developing foreign players. Jordan Mailata, a former rugby league player from Sydney who won the Super Bowl earlier this year with the Philadelphia Eagles<\/a>, is one of the few IPP players to have made it to the very top.<\/p>\n

Bobby Howfield swapped football in England for the NFL, playing for the New York Jets in the early 1970s. Photograph: Focus On Sport\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Foreign players have usually been kickers, recruited from other football codes. Bobby Howfield<\/a> swapped playing up front for Watford and Fulham for being a placekicker for the Denver Broncos and New York Jets; Mick Luckhurst<\/a> graduated from rugby union in St Albans to the Atlanta Falcons team. If you do not want to be a kicker and were not educated in the US college system, it\u2019s extremely difficult to make the leap to the NFL.<\/p>\n

Ayo Oyelola, a Londoner who played for Chelsea\u2019s youth team before discovering American football at Nottingham University, has made that step. He played in the Canadian Football League for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers before taking his talents to the Jacksonville Jaguars and Pittsburgh Steelers.<\/p>\n

Maximilian Pircher\u2019s story is just as unlikely. At 6ft 7in and 23 stone, the Italian was clearly not built for his favoured sports, football and handball, so took up American football in his late teens. He impressed while playing for clubs in Austria and Germany, as well as the Italy team, and was offered a place on the IPP in 2021.<\/p>\n

A year later, he had his hands on the Vince Lombardi Trophy as a member of the LA Rams practice squad. Pircher went on to have spells on the fringes at the Detroit Lions, Seattle Seahawks and Washington Commanders, before he joined the Minnesota Vikings at the end of August. He has been popular in every locker room but is yet to see action on the field. Is being a foreigner still a challenge?<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not really difficult, not an obstacle,\u201d says the 26-year-old. \u201cWe have players from all different states, so it doesn\u2019t really matter. At first, they ask: \u2018You got an accent \u2013where are you from? But, once we have that figured out, we\u2019re all friends. The Vikings have a really welcoming culture, a great team, a great organisation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite spending most of training with his fellow offensive linemen, Pircher has thrown himself into the social mix at his clubs. \u201cObviously the O-line is always very tight because we are unit and altogether one, but we have friends from every position group. My best friend, Landen Akers \u2013 my best man, actually \u2013 played wide receiver at the Rams. The long snapper<\/a> from the Packers, Matt Orzech, is a really good friend: we lived together for two years at the LA Rams. Quarterbacks, defensive linemen, special teams: we\u2019ve got to be there for each other.\u201d<\/p>\n

Maximilian Pircher on the practice squad at the Minnesota Vikings. Photograph: Andy Kenutis\/Minnesota Vikings<\/p>\n

Pircher is aware he represents more than just Italy and Austria. \u201cI would say all the countries outside the United States. The better each one of us from the IPP does, the more young people who play football in Italy, in Germany, wherever, can see: \u2018Oh it is possible \u2013 if I put the work in every day, I can get somewhere.\u2019 I have a lot of kids hitting me up, asking for tips. It\u2019s nice to inspire them to experience what I\u2019ve experienced.\u201d<\/p>\n

The IPP graduates are all invited to Florida each year to coach the next wave of potential NFL outsiders. \u201cAlmost all of us come back every year, including Jordan [Mailata], to teach the new people and help them out, tell them things we experienced,\u201d says Pircher. \u201cThe international programme is like a family. We are giving back what the programme gave to us. We will be thankful for ever.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cook is adamant that overseas players have a bright future in the NFL. \u201cIt\u2019s going to happen,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s a matter of when, not if. Why not a German quarterback? Why not a Japanese wide receiver? The NFL is for big, fast, strong, diligent, intelligent, hard-working, structured individuals \u2013 and those aren\u2019t traits unique to one geographical location. Talent and skill is distributed across the world, but opportunity isn\u2019t. The NFL\u2019s job is to provide opportunity. I can\u2019t wait to watch it happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

Follow No Helmets Required on Facebook<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The United States is a country of immigrants but the NFL remains dominated by players born in the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":312181,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[559],"tags":[64,63,593,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-312180","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nfl","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-nfl","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312180","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=312180"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312180\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/312181"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=312180"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=312180"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=312180"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}