The 2025 NFL Draft will primarily focus on prospects who just concluded their college careers. Most of them have played football since they were kids, top high school recruits offered by schools and climbing the ladder from there. But there’s another pool of candidates worth considering. The International Pathway Program (IPP) prospects who can be drafted and rostered later this month. None carry the intrigue like OL Jeneiro Wakeham, who has quickly earned comparisons to Philadelphia Eagles OT Jordan Mailata.
His size alone is enough to warrant a second look. A 6-9, 320-pound former rugby player with 36-inch arms, he carries a profile similar to Mailata. In fact, Mailata popped into Wakeham’s training one day, speaking and training with him.
NFL.com’s synopsis of Wakeham summarizes the rest of his story.
“The 21-year-old Fijian is a rugby union player who spent time with Stade France and most recently Eagling Trailfinders. He has a very high degree of physical and mental toughness, is an intense competitor and possesses incredible tools to develop. This is his first real exposure to the game of football, and Wakeham, who speaks both English and Fijian, has shown much improvement in learning the terminology since his arrival at IMG Academy.”
Having never played American football before, Wakeham is obviously raw. That’s why he’s in the IPP. After training for months, he got to perform for NFL scouts at South Florida’s Pro Day, the annual location the international players test from.
He’s far from NFL ready but the few clips circulating paint the picture of a prospect ready to be taught and molded.
Perhaps there’s a medical check worth exploring, too. This December 2024 article references a recent knee surgery, but it clearly wasn’t enough to hinder the training he’s done the past several months.
In the NFL’s series following the IPP class, one coach praised Wakeham’s physicality as the calling card of his game. No shock for an ex-rugby player.
International players can and have been drafted. The Buffalo Bills selected OT Travis Clayton, whom Pittsburgh brought in for a visit, in the seventh round of last year’s draft. And they can be used as roster exemptions. Each team receives an international exemption that won’t count against the 90-man roster or 16-man practice squad, though being on the latter as the 17th man comes with certain restrictions. Pittsburgh used that slot on Germany’s Julius Welschof last summer.
Assuming that Wakeham hasn’t been out of high school for more than four years, he should be draft-eligible. If selected, he’d join Clayton as a seventh-round flier and failing that, he can sign with a team in the undrafted pool. There’s no question Wakeham is a major work in progress with no guarantee of success. Those in Pittsburgh will scoff at the idea of Pat Meyer being able to develop him. He’s a far cry from Jeff Stoutland or Mike Munchak but Meyer has – so far – gotten too much of a bad rap for not developing players. Zach Frazier and Mason McCormick made progress in 2024, the jury is still out on Troy Fautanu, Kevin Dotson and Kendrick Green were drafted pre-Meyer, leaving Broderick Jones as the only disappointment.
Pittsburgh narrowly missed out on adding Mailata. We always say the NFL looks high and low for help. Wakeham is aiming to become the first Fiji-born player to make it in the league. He’s certainly worth consideration. The risk is low and the payoff, as Alejandro Villanueva and Mailata showed, is huge.
