The 2025 NFL Draft begins on Thursday when Green Bay, a city synonymous with NFL success, hosts the annual dispersion of college football players across the 32 NFL teams.
Athletes who first played the game of American football outside North America have a rich history of being selected in prior NFL Drafts. IFAF takes a round-by-round look at some of those who have heard their names called as their dreams of joining an NFL team became a reality.
First Round
Defensive end Bjoern Werner was selected 24th overall as the Indianapolis Colts picked him in the first round of the 2013 NFL Draft out of Florida State.
Berlin native Werner first played flag football and then youth tackle with the Berlin Adler. As a 16-year-old he enrolled in the NFL International Student Program, an initiative orchestrated by Patrick Steenberge of Global Football, which placed talented players in prep schools mainly in the New England area. Werner stood head and shoulders above his peers at the Salisbury School in Connecticut and was heavily recruited by major colleges. He chose Florida State where he started as a true freshman and was the ACC Defensive Player of the Year 2012.
Following two seasons with the Colts, Werner signed with the Jacksonville Jaguars before injuries brought the curtain down on an NFL career that amassed and 81 tackles 6.5 sacks.
Werner represented the Germany U19 team and was a member of the first-ever World Team that took on the United States in Fort Lauderdale in 2010. Alongside his high school head coach Chris Adamson, Werner now operates Gridiron Imports, an initiative that like the one that took him to the United States, creates opportunities for athletes to realize their dreams of playing college football and perhaps following in Bjoern’s footsteps.
Second Round
Sebastian Vollmer of the Düsseldorf Panther stood out in 2003 when representing Team Europe at the NFL Global Junior Championships in San Diego. The annual tournament played in the Super Bowl host city from 1997 to 2007 was the perfect stage for Vollmer to attract the attention of the University of Houston, where he went on to play college football.
In the 2009 NFL Draft, the New England Patriots made the German offensive lineman a surprise selection with the 58th overall pick. Seeing great potential in the two-time national junior bowl winner with the Panthers, the Patriots turned the six-feet-eight tackle into a mainstay of their line and during an eight-year stay in New England, Vollmer won two Super Bowl rings.
With the 63rd pick in the 2016 NFL Draft, the Denver Broncos selected Australian defensive end Adam Gotsis.
Having first played the sport for the Monash Warriors in his home city of Melbourne, Gotsis represented the Australian national team at the 2011 IFAF World Championships in Austria. The pathway to an opportunity to play college football in the United States and ultimately in the NFL began with a simple Facebook message to respected Aussie coach Paul Manera, who had been the first of his countrymen to play collegiately at Hawaii.
Manera made some introductions and Gotsis went on to earn a scholarship at Georgia Tech, playing all four years while making a point to graduate before declaring for the NFL Draft, with a degree in business administration. After four seasons with the Broncos, he joined the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2020 and has since spent time with the Indianapolis Colts and his current team the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Third Round
Defensive tackle Romeo Bandison holds the distinction of being the first player who represented an amateur team in his native country selected in the NFL Draft.
In 1994, Bandison was the 75th overall pick, taken by the Cleveland Browns. The native of The Hague in the Netherlands moved on to the then Washington Redskins in 1995 and played in 14 games during two seasons. Bandison had first stepped onto the gridiron with the Amsterdam Crusaders.
Former Vienna Vikings and Austrian U19 national team standout Bernhard Raimann was selected 77th overall by the Indianapolis Colts out of Central Michigan in the 2022 NFL Draft.
The 26-year-old native of Steinbrunn helped Austria to a fourth-place finish in the 2014 IFAF U19 World Championship. He has started 40 of 45 games played for the Colts so far in his NFL career.
Fourth Round
Hjalte Froholdt began playing football for the Svendborg Admirals in his native Denmark and was the 118thoverall pick of the 2019 NFL Draft when selected by the New England Patriots.
The center has since played with the Houston Texans and Cleveland Browns and has been a member of the Arizona Cardinals since 2023, starting every game in his first season.
Fifth Round
Jesse Williams began his career with the Bayside Ravens in Queensland and having plays in the junior college ranks in the United States, became the first Indigenous Australian to receive a scholarship to play college football. At Alabama, he won two BSC National Championships as the team’s starting nose guard.
Williams, who represented the IFAF World Team, was selected with the 137th pick overall by the Seattle Seahawks and went on to win a Super Bowl XLVIII ring as a non-playing practice squad member due to a knee injury and a cancer diagnosis that ultimately ended his NFL career.
Sixth Round
Moritz Böhringer was a 2016 NFL Draft selection of the Minnesota Vikings with the 180th overall pick.
The German wide receiver played for the Crailsheim Titans under-19 junior and senior teams before joining the German champions the Schwäbisch Hall Unicorns. There he played in Eurobowl XXIX and German Bowl XXXVII but finished on the losing side both times.
Böhringer played 16 German Football League games and had 59 receptions for 1,232 yards and 13 touchdowns. He also had 14 kickoff returns for 415 yards and two touchdowns.
Seventh Round
While Philadelphia Eagles Super Bowl winner Jordan Mailata is celebrated as Australia’s most successful import to the NFL, the offensive tackle never played the game in his native Australia, coming to American football from rugby league before the Eagles chanced a 233rd pick on his services in 2018.
German linebacker Mark Nzeocha was taken 236th overall out of Wyoming by the Dallas Cowboys in the 2015 NFL Draft and spent three seasons mainly as a special teamer.
It was in San Franciso that Nzeocha played in all 16 games in 2018, starting three, and the following year he appeared in Super Bowl LIV as the 49ers lost to the Kansas City Chiefs.
Nzeocha played flag and junior football for the Franken Knights and was named to the all-tournament team while representing Germany at safety at the 2009 IFAF Junior World Championships played in Canton Ohio.
Defensive tackle Markus Kuhn first played American football for the Weinheim Longhorns and in 2012 the German was a seventh round, 239th overall pick of the New York Giants where he spent four seasons.
The 2025 NFL Draft kicks off on Thursday, April 24 with Round 1 from 8pm ET and continues through Friday, April 25 with Rounds 2-3 from 7pm ET and on Saturday, April 26 with Rounds 4-7 from noon ET.
Photo: NFL
