The United States is a country of immigrants but the NFL remains dominated by players born in the USA. Only 5% of players are born abroad and the majority of them make the step into the sport by going to college in the US. True outsiders are unusual and foreign coaches are especially rare, which makes James Cook’s story remarkable.
Cook has been in charge of player development at Cleveland Browns for the past six months. That’s an achievement in itself but it’s extraordinary considering he grew up in Surrey, is in his late 20s and never played professional sport. Cook discovered the NFL as a 12-year-old when he was channel-flicking with his dad and came across “this weird and wonderful” sport. He started playing locally and soon wanted to become the first NFL quarterback born in Europe. He got as far as playing for Great Britain but his plans to go to college in the US proved financially prohibitive.
Instead, he volunteered to help NFL’s nascent International Player Pathway (IPP) – the programme set up in 2017 to recruit players from abroad – all while working in a local cinema. “I was scooping popcorn, cleaning seats, flipping burgers, doing a bit of everything. Any time the NFL guys wanted me, I would switch my shifts and help out. Being a quarterback, the one thing I had was I could throw. So when they worked out with players, I’d show up all over London and throw the ball to them. I wasn’t paid but they’d usually buy me lunch.”
This is where he met Aden Durde, who had stints with the Carolina Panthers and Kansas City Chiefs in his playing days before he set up the IPP programme in 2017 with two-time Super Bowl winner Osi Umenyiora. When Durde joined the staff at the Atlanta Falcons, becoming the first British full-time coach in NFL history, Cook took over the IPP. “I had a lot of fun with it, working with some really interesting guys,” he says. “We had Louis Rees-Zammit; Travis Clayton, who got drafted by Buffalo; Charlie Smyth, the kicker from Ireland who’s now with the Saints. I went to Australia to work with younger players from around the Pacific to get them into college football, like I wanted to do.”
Like Durde before him, Cook made the jump from working with foreign players to coaching in the NFL. “The Browns called out of the blue,” he says. “They had a hybrid role supporting younger players, maximising time on the practice field, collaborating with physios, the head coach and general manager. It’s a really hands-on role, which is perfect for me. My background was working with international athletes who had never played the sport. First-year rookies also have to build structure and routines: how to look after their body and deal with a huge playbook. But also just being present for guys. That’s the same everywhere. And I love that.”
Does being an Englishman who did not play in the NFL hold him back? “It’s more of a perceived hurdle than an actual one,” says Cook. “I’ve had a lot of reverse Ted Lasso jokes and loads of players call me ‘bruv’ as they love that. It’s more about checking myself. I say ‘trash can’ not ‘bin’. But we get nervous or stressed about the same things and need support in the same ways. If players know you can help them, they don’t care where you’re from or what accent you have. And when people know that you care, all the other stuff melts away.”
Coming from outside the NFL bubble has its advantages. “I spoke in front of the entire team very early on and, as we walked out, one of our offensive linemen wanted to talk rugby with me as he loves it. You make those connections and build relationships. People are genuinely intrigued. NFL buildings are more diverse than people think. We have people from all sorts of backgrounds, a range of upbringings. Our mantra at IPP was: ‘Be uncommon – you are different so lean into it.’ It’s something to celebrate.”
The NFL has been more successful at producing foreign fans than developing foreign players. Jordan Mailata, a former rugby league player from Sydney who won the Super Bowl earlier this year with the Philadelphia Eagles, is one of the few IPP players to have made it to the very top.
Foreign players have usually been kickers, recruited from other football codes. Bobby Howfield swapped playing up front for Watford and Fulham for being a placekicker for the Denver Broncos and New York Jets; Mick Luckhurst graduated from rugby union in St Albans to the Atlanta Falcons team. If you do not want to be a kicker and were not educated in the US college system, it’s extremely difficult to make the leap to the NFL.
Ayo Oyelola, a Londoner who played for Chelsea’s youth team before discovering American football at Nottingham University, has made that step. He played in the Canadian Football League for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers before taking his talents to the Jacksonville Jaguars and Pittsburgh Steelers.
Maximilian Pircher’s story is just as unlikely. At 6ft 7in and 23 stone, the Italian was clearly not built for his favoured sports, football and handball, so took up American football in his late teens. He impressed while playing for clubs in Austria and Germany, as well as the Italy team, and was offered a place on the IPP in 2021.
A year later, he had his hands on the Vince Lombardi Trophy as a member of the LA Rams practice squad. Pircher went on to have spells on the fringes at the Detroit Lions, Seattle Seahawks and Washington Commanders, before he joined the Minnesota Vikings at the end of August. He has been popular in every locker room but is yet to see action on the field. Is being a foreigner still a challenge?
“It’s not really difficult, not an obstacle,” says the 26-year-old. “We have players from all different states, so it doesn’t really matter. At first, they ask: ‘You got an accent –where are you from? But, once we have that figured out, we’re all friends. The Vikings have a really welcoming culture, a great team, a great organisation.”
Despite spending most of training with his fellow offensive linemen, Pircher has thrown himself into the social mix at his clubs. “Obviously the O-line is always very tight because we are unit and altogether one, but we have friends from every position group. My best friend, Landen Akers – my best man, actually – played wide receiver at the Rams. The long snapper from the Packers, Matt Orzech, is a really good friend: we lived together for two years at the LA Rams. Quarterbacks, defensive linemen, special teams: we’ve got to be there for each other.”
Pircher is aware he represents more than just Italy and Austria. “I would say all the countries outside the United States. The better each one of us from the IPP does, the more young people who play football in Italy, in Germany, wherever, can see: ‘Oh it is possible – if I put the work in every day, I can get somewhere.’ I have a lot of kids hitting me up, asking for tips. It’s nice to inspire them to experience what I’ve experienced.”
The IPP graduates are all invited to Florida each year to coach the next wave of potential NFL outsiders. “Almost all of us come back every year, including Jordan [Mailata], to teach the new people and help them out, tell them things we experienced,” says Pircher. “The international programme is like a family. We are giving back what the programme gave to us. We will be thankful for ever.”
Cook is adamant that overseas players have a bright future in the NFL. “It’s going to happen,” he says. “It’s a matter of when, not if. Why not a German quarterback? Why not a Japanese wide receiver? The NFL is for big, fast, strong, diligent, intelligent, hard-working, structured individuals – and those aren’t traits unique to one geographical location. Talent and skill is distributed across the world, but opportunity isn’t. The NFL’s job is to provide opportunity. I can’t wait to watch it happen.”
Follow No Helmets Required on Facebook
