The Best British-Born NFL Players Of All Time

With the sheer amount of cash available and the promotion put into hyping up the Super Bowl each year, it’s not a surprise that people with a bit of athletic prowess from around the world want to compete in NFL predictions.

Being just across the Atlantic Ocean, with games playing at reasonable times on Sundays, many a British athlete has tried to make it into the NFL, with Welsh rugby star Louis Rees-Zammit hopping across the pond in 2024.

We’ll have to wait to see if Rees-Zammit will make a breakthrough with his new team, the Jacksonville Jaguars, but for now, these are the best British NFL players the league has ever seen.

Top 5 British-Born NFL Players

• Jay Ajayi
• Osi Umenyiora
• Jack Crawford
• Graham Gano
• Lawrence Tynes

In the NFL, it’s all about winning the Super Bowl. Getting your hands on the Lombardi Trophy and a sparkling Super Bowl Ring around your finger is what creates a player’s legacy in this league.

While not all of the very best British NFL players have been on teams good enough to claim the league’s top prize, all of those in the top five have at least enjoyed stellar careers for their position to bridge the gap.

Here’s more on what makes each of these British-born NFL players top picks to rank as the very best Old Blighty has sent to the States.

Jay Ajayi (2015-2019)

Born in London, raised in Maryland from the age of seven, Jay Ajayi came through Boise State to get picked in the fifth round of the 2015 NFL Draft. That year, he broke into the Miami Dolphins ranks and became the starter in 2016.

From there, the running back would secure a Pro Bowl pick in 2016 as a Dolphin, move to the Philadelphia Eagles in the 2017 season, and then become a Super Bowl champion at the close of the 2017 campaign.

On the biggest stage the NFL has to offer, Ajayi worked as a change-of-pace back to the bruising LeGarrette Blount, ending with 57 yards on nine carries to help the Eagles beat Tom Brady’s New England Patriots.

Still a mighty team in the NFC, the Eagles are once again among the favourites in the NFL odds to have a run at the Super Bowl this year.

Injuries plagued much of Ajayi’s career, with seven years in the league yielding just 45 games. In that time, though, he put up over 2,500 rushing yards, over 400 through the air, and a total of 14 touchdowns for his two teams.

Osi Umenyiora (2003-2012)

A man of the world, Osi Umenyiora’s path to NFL glory began in Golders Green, London, before he and his family moved to Nigeria when he was seven, and then to Alabama at the age of 14.

It was in Auburn, Alabama, that Umenyiora would hone his natural athleticism and his thick American accent to earn a second-round selection in the 2003 NFL Draft.

With the New York Giants from 2003 to 2012, Umenyiora featured on the legendary, odds-defying Big Blue team that beat the Patriots 17-14 at Super Bowl XLII and 21-17 at Super Bowl XLVI.

So it doesn’t come as a surprise that Umenyiora and his career tally of 161 games, 85 sacks, and 35 forced fumbles secured his selection for the first-ever International Ring of Honour in London.

Jack Crawford (2012-2021)

A classmate of Daniel Radcliffe when back home in London, Jack Crawford moved over to New Jersey at 17-years-old looking to play basketball.

International transfer rules stopped him from pursuing basketball, so he pivoted to American football, eventually working his way into the school’s team as a defensive end and tight end, which caught the eye of Pennsylvania State University.

His continued success as an athlete earned Crawford a fifth-round selection in the 2012 NFL Draft. For the Oakland Raiders, after an easing-in season as a rookie, the Londoner would break out as a versatile defensive lineman in 2013.

Crawford’s time in the NFL would take him to the camps of the Dallas Cowboys, Atlanta Falcons, Tennessee Titans, and the Arizona Cardinals, with his last game played in 2020 bringing his tallies to 109 games, 18 sacks, 40 QB hits, and 165 combined tackles.

Graham Gano (2009-2024)

Moving way north of London, Graham Gano hails from the far fresher setting of Arbroath in Scotland, where he was born to his Scottish mother and American father.

Gano would move to and grow up in Florida, where he’d impress as a kicker to later earn a place in the Florida State University team. In a not-too-uncommon instance for a kicker, Gano went undrafted in 2009.

While a crack at the practice squad of the Baltimore Ravens that year didn’t go to plan, he’d soon end up on the books of the Washington Redskins to kick-off his NFL career.

The sure-footed Scot is still kicking in the NFL today, doing so for the New York Giants – a team that’s a lot closer to landing the top pick in the draft than winning the division in the sports betting lines – boasting a career field goal hit rate of 83.7 per cent.

Lawrence Tynes (2001-2013)

A second kicker from Scotland, Lawrence Tynes hails from Greenock, but made his way to Florida in time to be picked up by Troy for his college kicking years.

He was brought into the NFL fold by the Kansas City Chiefs in 2001 as an undrafted free agent, but it’d take a couple of years away with the Scottish Claymores and Ottawa Renegades before the Chiefs took him on properly.

After a couple of years with the Chiefs, Tynes moved on to play for the New York Giants for five years before ending his career with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, carrying a career field goal percentage of 81.5.

A teammate of Umenyiora when the Giants shocked the NFL with two Super Bowl wins against the New England Patriots, Tynes would kick for a combined 12 points in the two games without missing a PAT or field goal.

With the league growing in prominence in the UK, perhaps down the line, there’ll be even more contenders to the top five spots for the best British NFL players ever.