Uar Bernard, 21 from Nigeria, was drafted on the 25th of April to the Philadelphia Eagles after going through the International Player Pathway (IPP) program and impressing many teams in the league due to his physical traits and performance from combine like work outs.
The IPP is a program that people from foreign countries can go through if invited by some scouts that are sent out by the NFL. They are picked based on athleticism most of the time and have to go through training camps to even be a part of the program for the long run and eventually the draft.
Uar Bernard is 6’4’’ and weighs 306 pounds. According to ESPN, while completing his combine like work outs he was able to record a 39” vertical, 4.63 second 40-yard dash, and a 10’10’’ broad jump. These are not numbers that are not seen very often with people of his size. People have compared him to many players that are currently in the NFL at his position or a similar one.
Dereck Diaz, NFL fan and senior at APB, said that “He’s a freakish athlete, he is very similar to the Browns player, Myles Garrett.”
Bernard was compared to Myles Garrett immediately after getting drafted due to his sheer size and athleticism. Garrett is an American defensive end for the Cleveland Browns and he stands at 6 ‘4, 272 pounds, and ran a similar time to Bernard with a 4.64. These two are very similar because the amount of weight they carry around at those speeds are not normal numbers for people as big as them.
Bernard was discovered by the IPP scouts through videos of him at 16 years old playing basketball. He also played soccer as it is a very popular sport outside of the US. These same scouts asked him if he wanted to play football and he dedicated his life to it leading him to being drafted. He claims that he realized that having a passion for something is what drives a person and he used that to push himself for the extra step of getting into the league.
Bernard is very appreciative of this opportunity because it hasn’t always been sunshine and rainbows for him. His father died when Bernard was just 16 years old and dedicated his life and future earnings to provide for his mother.
Another notable player that went through the IPP is Jordan Mailata. Mailata is a left-tackle who also plays for the Eagles and was drafted 233rd back in 2018. He was able to go through the IPP as he was a rugby player in a professional league in Sydney, Australia. Mailata had never played a snap of football before the IPP and is now ranked among the top offensive tackles in the league.
