The 2024 NFL draft will showcase some of the best talent in recent memory and among the highly rated prospects are a sprinkle of Aussies who have a decent chance of getting their name called over the next few days.
While it might be a tad ambitious for an Aussie to get called in the first 32 picks on Friday, Australian players are expected to be picked up in the latter rounds.
The NFL has seen several NRL/AFL converts make the jump but most of them have been kickers or punters, although this year, there’s a much wider breadth of talent looking to make a team on offence and defence.
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One of them is former Brisbane Broncos development squad member Jotham Russell, who was one of two Australians selected for the 2024 class of the NFL’s International Player Pathway program, and will be allocated to one of eight teams if undrafted this weekend.
The growing popularity of the NFL outside the US led to a rule change to help grow the game outside the country’s borders, with each team having an extra (17th) spot on their practice squad to use for international players.
The Canberra-born Russell played prop for Tweed Seagulls under 21s in 2023 yet also had enough speed to spend time in the backline.
Russell and former Gold Coast Suns player Patrick Murtagh, who has signed with the Jacksonville Jaguars, were selected for the IPP program, which gives 16 international athletes the chance of making it onto an NFL roster.
It’s the same route Philadelphia offensive lineman Jordan Mailata took to become a $100 million athlete, while Cowboys centre Valentine Holmes was a part of the program in 2019, before deciding to return to Australia and sign a multimillion-dollar contract with North Queensland a year later.
Since its inception, 37 international players have signed with NFL teams (allocated, drafted, and or signed as a free agent), while five players have reached active rosters.
Like Mailata, Russell hopes to achieve just as much success on the other side of the ball, having spent time with training staff to transform from a 195cm, 108kg former barrelling front-rower into a powerful but flexible defensive lineman.
Speaking with ESPN Russell said staying low was a point of emphasis from IPP coaches.
“It’s all I hear; bendy, hips, hip mobility, the ankles, everything like that,” he said.
“Even with the way I run, I’m always trying to get around people, so the bending was nothing too new.
“The way I played rugby league, it was always trying to get low, leverage myself.”
As for modelling his game on current stars, Russell acknowledged that was part of his learning process.
“Von Miller, of course… he just does it right. The way he gets off, he just has every trick in his arsenal.
“And then even going into like a linebacker position, we started looking at Fred Warner… he’s someone who I’d want to study for my game and shape myself in his image.
“Knowing how hard it is to simply know what the offense is going to do, where they’re going to be just by simply looking at small details… something as hard as that is, he makes it look easy.”
Another player hoping to get his name called this weekend is Thomas Yassmin, a sixth year 198cm, 113kg tight end out of Utah, who played for rugby for the Australian Schools Barbarians all-star team in 2017.
After a break out year in 2022, his final season was cut short by injury after he caught a touchdown in the Rose Bowl.
“He’s such an athlete, has really good hands, big catch radius, really dangerous after the catch,” Utah coach Kyle Whittingham said.
Yassmin was healthy enough to perform at the Utah Pro Day and impressed with a 4.5-to-4.6 range in the 40-yard dash and his three-cone time of 7.01 seconds also impressed.
His athleticism and his performances on tape against top schools led to a number of teams having conversations with the former Scots College product, with the Cleveland Browns using a top 30 visit to bring him into the facility to have a better gauge of his talents.
“It was awesome. I really loved it,” he told ESPN. “The facility – unbelievable. The coaches, the program, I mean, is there is no shock why Kevin Stefanski has [been] NFL Coach of the Year two out of the past few years… he is an unbelievable coach. The whole culture.”
“Meeting with the tight ends coach (Tommy Rees), [he’s an] awesome young guy. He was the Alabama offensive coordinator the previous year, loves tight ends. I feel like I had a really good chat with him.”
“Again, just to be able to sort of put myself in front of these coaches, see them face-to-face. Obviously they can see my scouting profile, watch the tape. But I think it’s always good we can get in front of them, it sort of adds another layer to it. I’d love to play for them if that opportunity arises and they wish to take me.”
Then there’s Australian punter Tory Taylor, who was named college football’s best punter this past season and has a real chance to be picked up within the first four rounds.
Taylor beat an 85-year-old punting record for Iowa, with a single-season mark of 4479 yards of total punting.
“A big lad with a big kick, lots of confidence and he’s composed,” ProKick’s Nathan Chapman said.
“It’s a pretty great formula for getting into the NFL, and even though there’s pressures behind getting to that level, he’ll settle himself and handle it well.
“He was always tall and could always kick it a long way. But then that self-belief and confidence grew, which then changed the way he approached every kick… to go, ‘No, I am good and I’m going to show it to you and this is going to be really hard for other teams to handle, because I’m going to kick the shit out of it.'”
Another punter who reportedly impressed Dallas Cowboys officials at a work out is Jordy Sandy, who played for Texas Christian University and is another graduate of Prokick Australia.
The NFL Draft will be held in the Detroit this year and will begin at 10am AEST on Friday.
