The Eagles are hoping history will repeat itself.
Eight years after taking a seventh-round flier on tackle Jordan Mailata, who has started eighty-five regular-season games and was a second-team All-Pro in 2024, the Eagles have rolled the dice on another player who has never played organized football.
Philadelphia selected defensive tackle Uar Bernard with the 251st pick in the 2026 draft. Invited by Osi Umenyiora to participate in the 2024 NFL Nigeria camp, Bernard eventually landed in the NFL’s International Player Pathway program class of 2026.
It ended up creating an opportunity with the Eagles.
Along the way, the six-four, 306-pound Bernard ran the 40-yard dash in 4.63 seconds and demonstrated a 39-inch vertical jump at the HBCU Showcase and International Player Pathway Pro Day in March.
“It’s a dream come true for me because I’ve worked hard for this,” Bernard said after being selected. “I’ve not played football, but I’ve gone through some drills that made me believe that I’m going to get better every day. I thank God for everything. I thank God for life. I thank God for the opportunities given to me to be drafted by the Eagles.”
“We wanted to take the chance on the kid,” G.M. Howie Roseman said. “Obviously, we’ve had great success with that program. We spent a lot of time with him. Coach [Clint] Hurtt went down there and spent the day with him, worked him out. You know, just for us, it was a passion project. Obviously, he’s got a lot of tools in his body. Understand it’s going to take time. It’s going to take a lot of time here.”
Mailata was discovered through that same approach, parlaying a spot in the International Player Pathway program into a starting job and a Super Bowl win. As the NFL becomes a global game, teams are scouring the globe for potential football players — even if they have never played football before.
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