International games have become an annual highlight of the NFL schedule, especially as locales and dates are added, giving more and more fans the chance to see American football played in front of them. But that's just one part of the league's global push. So before the Giants and Panthers wrap up this year's international slate in Munich on Sunday, I'd like to call attention to another part: accommodating the growing demand among youngsters around the world who hope to one day take the field for an NFL team themselves.
First, I want to highlight a key change being made to the selection process for the International Player Pathway program, which is designed to give prospects outside of the United States greater exposure ahead of the NFL draft. Typically, there has been one annual combine event for those interested in joining the IPP, with 25 or fewer athletes attending. But the NFL is constantly refining and adapting the scouting process, and with the number of potential international prospects going up (there were more than 300 international athletes playing college football last year), the league is holding several combine testing events around the world ahead of the 2025 NFL Draft as part of the IPP's International Regional Combine Series.
This change allows NFL's football operations and NFL international departments to work with the small team of scouts and consultants like myself, to see and evaluate more athletes. I have been a consultant for the IPP program since 2019, and in that role, I spend time alongside others attending and evaluating athletes at each combine event, as well as interviewing, mentoring and evaluating the athletes selected to participate in the annual IPP program, a 10-week training camp beginning in January at IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida, where they immerse themselves in all things American football before participating in a pro day ahead of the draft. There were 15 athletes in last year's IPP class at IMG Academy. And teams would do well to consider the international player pool; beginning this season, each team has a 17th spot on the practice squad specifically available for an international player. In addition, a team is now permitted to elevate its international practice squad player to its active roster a maximum of three times throughout the season -- increasing the flexibility for clubs to get the most out of that additional player while creating more opportunities for the players to play.
There is no limit on invites for the IPP program, but those who run it aim to include only those potential prospects who have a chance to get drafted or make an NFL roster. This expanded combine series will increase the pool of athletes to draw from.
Dates for regional combines to work out athletes from Africa, South and Central America and Australia/New Zealand will be announced later. But the first combine in the series -- held at Loughborough University in the United Kingdom, the home of NFL UK Academy, which is for athletes ages 16 to 19 – already took place back in October, and I was in attendance. We saw several potential developmental prospects among the 15 players at this year's UK Regional Combine. The group represented 11 countries and featured a number of world-class track and field athletes, along with a handful of guys who had previously played college football in the U.S. One participant was Rojé Stona, who set an Olympic record in the discus throw to win the gold medal at the 2024 Summer Olympics, becoming the first Jamaican to win a throwing event at an Olympic Games.
The expanded combine series is just one new approach to growing the game. In September, the NFL partnered with A.B. Paterson College to open an NFL Academy on Australia’s Gold Coast that is designed to serve a similar function to the NFL UK Academy, helping athletes (in this case, those ages 12-18 are eligible to apply) in the Asia-Pacific region develop their football skills and potentially land college scholarships. (Since 2019, more than 40 alumni of the NFL UK Academy landed college football scholarships in the U.S., and over 30 played college football in the 2024 season, with 19 participating in Division I college programs.) The Academy in Australia is also meant to help prepare athletes to complete in flag football during the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles – which promises to be another key moment in the sport's global ascent.
As we bid adieu to another fantastic run of international games, note that the identification and development of international players continues, and the evolution of the worldwide player pipeline suggests the best is yet to come.
