The NFL’s search for elite talent has taken scouts far beyond the football fields of the United States and Canada.

Basketball courts and soccer, rugby and Gaelic football pitches in such places as Australia, Germany, Ireland, Nigeria, the United Kingdom and Zimbabwe have become breeding grounds for potential running backs, wide receivers, tight ends, kickers, linebackers and offensive and defensive linemen.

The NFL started its International Player Pathway (IPP) program in 2017 to identify athletes who show promise as potential professional American football players, but otherwise wouldn’t have an opportunity to enter the league.

“These are the athletes,” said Pat Long, the NFL’s director of international football development, “who, even without a whole top order high school, NCAA run up

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