PHILADELPHIA — Uar Bernard needed help with his helmet. It was one of the first drills in the first football practice of Bernard’s life, a baby step in a giant experiment. The Philadelphia Eagles used a seventh-round draft choice on a 6-foot-4, 306-pound mystery from a Nigerian village who has never played football, tantalized by athletic testing at the NFL’s International Player Pathway program that prompted comparisons to NFL star Myles Garrett on the NFL Draft broadcast. Before Bernard could swipe at a tackling dummy, he needed his helmet latched.
A teammate trying out for the Eagles from Lehigh University helped Bernard with the chinstrap, gave him a friendly slap above the head, and watched Bernard work. Then Bernard waved his hands in preparation, crouched into a three-point stance, swatted away a tackling dummy, swiped at a football and chased another loose ball as part of the defensive line drill. A few minutes later, Eagles defensive line coach Clint Hurtt worked with Bernard on hitting a tackling sled. Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie and general manager Howie Roseman watched closely on the side, emboldened from the experience eight years earlier when they drafted a mammoth-sized rugby player from Australia named Jordan Mailata in the seventh round and watched him develop into one of the best offensive tackles in the NFL.
“I was over there with him in drills today, and it’s all new to him — he hasn’t played football before,” Eagles coach Nick Sirianni said after practice. “I don’t know if there’s been an ‘aha’ moment … but everything is new to him — from putting on your helmet to however that is, and the drills and the getting in a stance and being in a huddle. That is all new to him.”
Bernard was not available for comment after practice on Friday. He spoke with reporters six days earlier after the Eagles selected him with the No. 251 overall pick.
“It’s a dream come true for me,” Bernard said. “I worked hard for this. I’ve never played football before, but I’ve gone through some drills and it made me believe I’m going to get better every day. I appreciate — I’m thankful for everything, thankful for life, thankful for the opportunity that’s been given to me to be drafted by the Eagles.”
The Eagles are committed to a patient approach with Bernard. They went through a similar transition with Mailata in 2018. He didn’t take a snap in a regular-season game until his third season — and Mailata’s story is about the best-possible outcome.
Sirianni explained that the coaches start at phase one with “everything and everybody” and that even players with college coaches might not have been taught tackling or ball security in the way that the Eagles require. The “newness” applies to a six-year college player as much as Bernard.
“Excited to have him here, really excited about that,” Sirianni said. “And you talk about being able to develop habits and things like that, there are things that are brand new to them. That’s an exciting thing. “
Defensive tackle Uar Bernard (93) participated in his first practice with the Eagles during rookie minicamp at NovaCare Complex. (Bill Streicher / Imagn Images)
Bernard is not alone in Philadelphia, as the Eagles signed Kenyan rugby player Joshua Weru as an undrafted rookie. Weru, who plays edge rusher, trained with Bernard at the International Player Pathway Program, and the two can be resources for each other in learning football. (Bernard is not the only native of Nigeria on the Eagles. Moro Ojomo, a fourth-year defensive tackle, was born in Lagos.)
Even if Bernard still has much to learn about football, he looks like he belongs on the football field. The first glimpse of him came during stretches. He wore No. 93, which was last worn in a game for the Eagles by Milton Williams — a 6-foot-3, 290-pound defensive tackle who signed a $104 million contract with the New England Patriots. Bernard filled the jersey like an NFL standout like Williams. He needed to figure his way through drills, but he popped off the ball with more explosiveness than other players who have played the game for nearly two decades.
He’s already become a subject of intrigue in Philadelphia. Bernard went to Game 6 between the Philadelphia 76ers and Boston Celtics. He was on the court before the game. Among those who came to embrace him were 76ers star Joel Embiid, a native of Cameroon, and Nigerian-born center Adem Bona.
Before his first practice on Friday, Bernard officially signed his first NFL contract worth $4.5 million over four seasons.
Bernard’s story was chronicled in The Athletic before the draft, when he was described as the “most explosive athlete” a combine trainer had ever seen. Bernard has 11-inch hands and 36-inch arms and only 6 percent fat on a 306-pound frame. He broad jumped 10 feet 10 inches, which was 14 inches more than any other defensive tackle who tested at this year’s combine, and ran a 4.63-second 40-yard dash — faster than some wide receivers and running backs in the NFL Draft.
Bernard was born in a village in northern Nigeria with little infrastructure for sports. His listed hometown is Abuja, the capital of Nigeria. Bernard played soccer and basketball with little pathway to becoming a professional athlete. His father died when he was 16.
“I had to provide for my mom,” Bernard said. “I had to find a way out.”
A basketball coach noticed Bernard, and he was connected to a football camp hosted by former New York Giants star Osi Umenyiora in Lagos in 2024. That sparked his football journey, which included watching defensive linemen on videos. The football camps helped place him in the NFL International Player Pathway program. Its most famous graduate is Mailata.
Mailata visited the 10-week program in Fort Myers, Fla., and left Bernard with a message that resonated: “I should use my talent to bless my family.”
“He’s like a role model to me,” Bernard added.
The Eagles scouted Bernard extensively leading up to the draft, from the IPP workouts to sending Hurtt to Florida to meet with Bernard in person. Roseman did not enter the draft with a seventh-round pick. He ensured that he acquired late picks in trades with the intention of drafting Bernard.
“We wanted to take the chance on the kid,” Roseman said after the draft. “It was a passion project. Understand he has the tools in his body, and it’s going to take time. It’s going to take a lot of time. But it’s pretty cool. We spent a lot of time talking about ‘unusual.’ Certainly unusual with that guy.”
While on the phone during his draft call, Roseman told Bernard that they would develop him and “bring everything out of you that we can,” as documented on team-released footage. Bernard, who was in Pittsburgh for the draft, said he would walk to Philadelphia. Roseman responded that the Eagles would get him a flight.
“We’re going to rally around this guy!” Roseman told his draft room. “He’s got really interesting talent.”
Bernard walked across the stage with a Nigerian flag across his back. “It’s a dream come true for me,” he explained in a video conference after the draft. Mailata could not contain his excitement while watching the Eagles make Bernard his teammate. “LETS F—ING GOOOOOOOOO!” he texted The Athletic. “I’m so hyped I have a headache.”
Mailata has since become the NFL’s ambassador to its academy in Australia. It’s a distinction that Bernard is already informally using at the start of his NFL journey.
“I’m like an ambassador for the youth back home,” Bernard said.
When he spoke with reporters, he still had not taken the Nigerian flag off his back. He said football is not yet popular back home. Flag football was introduced three years ago. Bernard can help propel the sport.
“It means a lot to me,” Bernard said, “because I’m the first from my tribe to be at this level.”
That also means everything is new for Bernard — from latching his helmet to striking the tackling dummy. But he’s a part of the roster, officially under contract as an NFL player. When he first showed interest in football in Nigeria, he received a present. It was Jason Kelce’s No. 62 Eagles jersey. He doesn’t need to wear somebody else’s jersey anymore. Bernard has his own.