GAA players who participated at NFL Combine expected to sign contracts
Wicklow GAA goalkeeper Mark Jackson participating at the NFL Combine. Picture: ©INPHO/USA TODAY Sports/Kirby Lee
Tadhg Leader, coach to the four Irishmen who took part in the NFL Combine over the weekend, says he expects some of them to sign contracts with teams.
Monaghan's Rory Beggan, Wicklow's Mark Jackson, Down's Charlie Smyth and former Connacht rugby player Darragh Leader were all in attendance at the event in Indianapolis. The combine is a showcase for the best talent in college football.
GAA goalkeepers Beggan, Jackson and Smyth executed field goals and kick-offs in front of personnel from all 32 NFL teams. Darragh Leader attended the combine as a punter but an injury prevented him from taking part fully. He will display his abilities at a college football pro day later this month.
"This is an event that every single punter and kicker in America wanted to be at. We were part of that," Tadhg Leader, Darragh's brother and also a former Connacht rugby player, told RTÉ Radio One's Morning Ireland show.
"The boys held their own which was what I expected but also we've never done that before in this competitive environment.
"We got off to a shaky enough start. The three lads missed a kick earlier than would have been expected. It was inside a very kickable range but then we found a huge sense of rhythm where each of them banged six out of six between 30 and 50 yards."#
The plan had been for the players to fly back to Ireland this week but that schedule has changed.
"The general consensus was 'Wow, you guys are competing against the best of the best, ye didn't look out of place on that field'," Leader continued.
"A couple of NFL teams came over to me pretty quickly afterwards and said 'We're quite interested in your guys'.
"Initially the plan was to fly them back to Ireland tomorrow but as a result of all the interest we got, we decided we're going to keep them down in Florida for another three weeks because the expectation is teams are going to fly them into their facilities for medicals, for interviews, for workouts.
"So, pretty mad thing to say, but I think a couple of the lads are going to be getting signed to contracts in the next two to six weeks, potentially sooner but that's the usual timeline for these things. Very real, it's gotten very real.
"Talking about lads from Monaghan, Down, Wicklow and Galway dealing directly with NFL teams is mad.
"Rory Beggan looked extremely composed, Charlie Smyth and Mark took a kick or two to find their rhythm but once they found it, they hit really impressive kicks, which again was articulated by the NFL staff to me."
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