The Philadelphia Eagles have been the ones who have cultivated 6-foot-5, 306-pound Nigerian defensive tackle Uar Bernard, taking him from the NFL’s International Player Pathway to someone who now seems ready to step on the field and contribute.
Thanks to an NFL rule change, the benefit of all the Eagles’ hard work this offseason could go to another team.
“Apparently, the league website has outdated information, and designated IPP players are now available to be poached off a practice squad the same way any other practice squad player is,” The Philadelphia Inquirer’s Jeff Neiburg wrote on X on Monday night. “Uar Bernard is the IPP designated player.”
NFL teams are allowed to elevate a practice player to the roster for 3 regular-season games before they must add them to the 53-man active roster — which also means any other team who would like that player and commits to putting them on their 53-man roster can steal them away.
The Eagles used a 2026 7th-round pick (No. 251 overall) on Bernard, who had never played a single snap of organized football before he was selected in the NFL Draft.
Insane Testing Numbers for Uar Bernard
Bernard, 21, didn’t even play organized sports until he was 16, when he began playing basketball for his high school and a local club team.
He discovered football thanks to the NFL’s far-reaching efforts to expand the game around the globe at the 2024 NFL Nigeria Camp and the 2025 NFL Africa Camp in Cairo, Egypt.
What truly got Bernard on the radar of NFL teams was his pre-draft performance at the IPP Combine and HBCU Pro Day, where he registered just 6 percent body fat and ran the 40-yard dash in 4.63 seconds.
The fastest 40-yard dash time ever recorded by a defensive tackle at the NFL Scouting Combine was Tampa Bay Buccaneers defensive tackle Calijah Kancey, who ran the 40 in 4.67 seconds before he was selected in the 1st round of the 2023 NFL Draft.
Bernard Called Being Drafted ‘Dream Come True’
Bernard, like many people, was in shock after the Eagles used a 7th-round pick on him.
“It’s a dream come true for me because I’ve worked hard for this,” Bernard told NFL.com in April. “I’ve not played football, but I’ve gone through some drills that made me believe that I’m going to get better every day. I thank God for everything. I thank God for life. I thank God for the opportunities he’s given to me to be drafted by the Eagles.”
Since its inception in 2017, the NFL’s IPP has produced at least 1 true superstar — Eagles left offensive tackle, NFL All-Pro, and Super Bowl champion Jordan Mailata.
Mailata, 6-foot-8 and 365 pounds, was a professional rugby player in Australia before joining the NFL’s IPP and was selected in the 7th round (No. 233 overall) of the 2018 NFL Draft.
Mailata missed all but 2 games of his first 2 seasons in the NFL with injuries, but started 10 games in 2020. He became the full-time starter in 2021 after he signed a 4-year, $60.4 million contract extension.
In April 2024, Mailata got a new contract with the Eagles that made him one of the highest-paid players in the NFL at his position — a 3-year, $66 million deal with $40.8 million guaranteed and a $20 million signing bonus.
“I think that Jordan (Mailata), with all due respect to Uar — I don’t know, whoever’s the youngest person in this room probably could be doing this for 30, 40 years, and nobody’s going to see a Jordan Mailata ever again,” Eagles general manager Howie Roseman said. “I mean the person, the player that that guy is, that story, it’s an unbelievable story. He had just a unique combination of size, strength, athleticism and pro experience as an athlete. I think sometimes we forget Uar has never played organized sports before. It’s a different bar. I think if we’re just judging everyone through the lens of Jordan Mailata, it’s going to be hard to give these guys a fair chance. Still very excited about them, really glad that they did get through. Certainly wasn’t certain about that, but I’m glad they’re back here.”
Eagles Could Lose 6-foot-5, 306-Pound Draft Pick After NFL Rule Change