Aussie Matt Leo has been assigned to Philadelphia Eagles

Defensive end Matt Leo, who played his college at Iowa State, has been assigned to Philadelphia Eagles for the upcoming season as part of the NFL’s International Player Pathway Program.

Four teams will carry an additional overseas player on their practice squads in 2020 as part of the International Player Pathway program, the NFL announced today, these teams are from the NFC East.

It is also the program that helped Valentine Holmes earn a practice squad spot at the New York Jets and fellow Eagle Jordan Mailata who is still with the team.

In 2019 Leo was named to the First-Team Academic All-Big 12 but spent most of the season as a reserve player finishing the season with 14 tackles, 5.5 of which were for loss and included one sack.

That sort of production will not normally land you a spot on an NFL roster but thanks to the International Pathway Program Leo will get his shot. Often this is all a player needs, a chance, and this is what Leo now has in front of him.