Eagles rookie defensive tackle Uar Bernard is drawing attention in Nigeria by betting the country has far more NFL-ready talent—if it gets football awareness, coaching, and academies. Comparing his improvised path to the Eagles’ 2018 seventh-round find Jordan
When Philadelphia Eagles rookie defensive tackle Uar Bernard thinks about his NFL path. he doesn’t start with a scouting report. He starts with the way he trained before organized football existed back home in Nigeria—three trunks repurposed as bags for practice. and natural devices turned into tools for a pass-rush routine.
“It was using three trunks as bags to just practice pass rush, to be a blessing to my country,” Bernard said, via Colin Udoh of ESPN.
Bernard’s point isn’t only personal. He believes his homeland is stocked with talent that never gets the chance to be seen. He wants something bigger than one breakout player—an environment that spots, develops, and sends prospects toward the NFL.
“[The league should] create that football awareness in Nigeria, have coaches there, have academies there,” Bernard said, via Colin Udoh of ESPN. “I believe that Nigeria have most of the talents in the world. If they have more opportunities they’ll do better than me.”
That pitch lands with extra weight because the Eagles didn’t stumble into Bernard’s potential by accident. They found him as a rookie defensive tackle. and the organization sees a long-term upside that could mirror the kind of patience NFL clubs often reserve for late-round gambles. If Bernard develops into what Philadelphia hopes the 2026 seventh-round pick could be. his confidence could quickly become more than a story about one player.
Still, the question around Bernard isn’t hype—it’s development. And the NFL loves a good parallel. so many observers have tried to connect Bernard’s trajectory to Jordan Mailata. a 2018 seventh-rounder the Eagles found in Australia. Mailata, however, doesn’t want his experience treated like a template.
“We should not draw comparisons to my story, and Uar’s story,” Mailata said recently, via Udoh. “This is two different positions, two different people. . . . My story has influenced people’s opinion of whether he will work out or not. I think it will work out, but only time will tell.”
Mailata’s caution doesn’t come from doubt about the possibility. It comes from what he remembers seeing the moment he tried to understand Bernard’s raw physical output. For Mailata, the difference is clear even before coaching ever takes over.
“Uar is a freak,” Mailata said. “He is also not of this planet. He’s just freakishly strong, freakishly fast, and I can’t even compare him to me, just because he’s just not of this world, by metrics and numbers wise.“
Mailata pinned that conviction to a specific detail from what he saw on Bernard’s first day: “What I saw, my first day, they had a 315 on the bench, and he was repping 315 like it was 225, and I was like, where did they find this guy?”
That moment—bench numbers that sounded unreal—helps explain why Bernard’s story has already moved beyond Nigeria into the kind of conversations that NFL teams and fans enjoy. If Bernard. who remains very raw. can turn that physical advantage into football production. more people will keep asking where he came from and why more players like him aren’t already in the pipeline.
The tension behind Bernard’s message is straightforward: Nigeria has potential, but potential doesn’t automatically become opportunity. Bernard’s solution is practical—football awareness. coaches. academies—because talent can’t be coached if it can’t be trained. tested. and developed in the first place.
If he keeps moving toward the level the Eagles envision for a 2026 seventh-round pick. the ripple effects may go further than his roster spot. More teams could start looking harder at Nigeria. Over time. more structured football infrastructure could appear—giving more athletes a shot that Bernard had to improvise for long before an NFL spotlight ever found him.
Uar Bernard Philadelphia Eagles NFL Nigeria football Jordan Mailata Colin Udoh ESPN rookie defensive tackle NFL scouting football academies
So he just used tree trunks as gym bags? That’s kinda wild. NFL pipeline to Nigeria sounds good tho.
I feel like this is just PR. Like “hope” and “awareness” doesn’t mean anybody’s actually gonna fund academies. Also Eagles always find a diamond in the rough, right?
Wait, isn’t Nigeria in Africa, like they don’t play football over there? /s But seriously, if they already have the talent then why aren’t they showing up in the NFL Draft every year? Seems like coaching is the only real missing piece.
Jordan When? Jordan Mailata? I can’t keep up with the Eagles’ names. But I get the idea, like one guy makes it and suddenly everyone wants a pipeline. If they really had “most of the talents in the world,” we’d have heard about it earlier… unless the NFL is finally paying attention now.