NFL eyes NRL star Holmes for elite international program

The NFL has confirmed it has NRL star Valentine Holmes and other Australian athletes in its sights as potential candidates for the exclusive program that turned former South Sydney Rabbitohs junior Jordan Mailata into a prized recruit for the Philadelphia Eagles.

The past two years the NFL has invited five or six international athletes to participate in its international pathway program.

In the frame: NFL aspirant Valentine Holmes has been targeted for the league's international pathways program.

In the frame: NFL aspirant Valentine Holmes has been targeted for the league’s international pathways program.Credit:NRL Photos

The number will grow to seven or eight for the next class.

After an intensive two-month program at the IMG Academy in Florida the NFL will select four players who will be placed on NFL teams' practice squads next season.

Or they could be snapped up in the NFL draft like the 203cm tall, 157kg, 21-year-old Mailata.

"Absolutely," Damani Leech, the NFL's senior vice president of football strategy and business development, told AAP when asked if Holmes was a candidate for the program.

Holmes made the surprise announcement this week he would quit the Cronulla Sharks and turn his back on a $5 million contract to stay in the NRL for a shot at making it in the NFL.

"I haven't met him personally, but I'm certainly familiar with him, have seen film on him so he's definitely someone we are aware of," Leech said.

Holmes faces a big pay cut.

Pathway players on NFL practice squads this season will earn $US129,200 ($178,000).

Rapid rise: Jordan Mailata won a contract with the Philadelphia Eagles earlier this year.

Rapid rise: Jordan Mailata won a contract with the Philadelphia Eagles earlier this year.Credit:AP

Leech was part of the NFL's experiment to hold a combine on Queensland's Gold Coast last month to scout for potential talent.

Some of the participants have also been pencilled in as candidates for an invite to IMG.

"There definitely were a couple," Leech said.

"The phase we are in now is looking at individuals like Valentine and individuals who participated in the Australian combine and individuals from other parts of the world to try and finalise that list of elite athletes who are going to be invited to the next stage."

Pathway program invitees will enter IMG in January next year and the successful candidates allocated to an NFL team in April.

Players on practice squads train with the teams and play pre-season games, but can't play regular season games.

They will undertake intensive training and if they show promise could be elevated to an NFL team's 53-man roster to be eligible play in regular season games.

"It's a really long journey," Leech said.

"That's something we try to impress upon the athletes.

"Just being selected for the program is just the start of what could be a really long journey of development and understanding the game."

AAP

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