Top five NFL players from Great Britain

Jay Ajayi (Google Images)

The National Football League has a strong connection with Great Britain. Since 2007 there have been 28 games played in London with Wembley Stadium, Twickenham Stadium and Tottenham Hotspur Stadium being the host venues.

There are currently five National Football Players who are from Great Britain. One player changed teams on Tuesday as defensive end Jack Crawford of London, England signed with the Tennessee Titans. Let us now take a closer look at the five NFL players who hail from the United Kingdom.

5) Jermaine Eluemunor–New England Patriots–The third year offensive guard from London was originally selected in the fifth round, 159th overall, by the Baltimore Ravens in the 2017 National Football League Draft. He played 17 games with the Ravens over 2017 and 2018 before being traded to the Patriots for the 2019 season. Originally on the NFL’s All-Rookie Team in 2017, Eluemunor was in fact traded from the Ravens to the Patriots with a sixth round draft pick in the 2020 NFL Draft for a fourth round draft pick in the 2020 NFL Draft. In 2019, he played 10 games for New England.

4) Josh Mauro–Las Vegas Raiders–The sixth year defensive end from St. Albans, England has played for the Arizona Cardinals, Pittsburgh Steelers, New York Giants and Oakland Raiders. In 13 games in 2019 with the Oakland Raiders, Mauro had 19 combined tackles (11 solo tackles and eight assisted tackles) along with three tackles for a loss. In 2015, Mauro had two forced fumbles and one fumble recovery in three Cardinals wins. On October 11, 2015, Mauro had a fumble recovery in a 42-17 Arizona win over the Detroit Lions. On December 10, 2015, he had a forced fumble in a 23-20 Cardinals win over the Minnesota Vikings and on December 20, 2015 Mauro had a forced fumble in a 40-17 Cardinals win over the Philadelphia Eagles.

3) Jack Crawford–Tennessee Titans–The eighth year defensive end previously played two seasons for the Oakland Raiders and three seasons each with the Dallas Cowboys and Atlanta Falcons before joining the Titans on Tuesday. Last season with the Falcons, Crawford played 16 games in Atlanta and had half a sack, 24 combined tackles (six solo tackles and 18 assisted tackles), one tackle for a loss and five quarterback hits. Crawford had his first career NFL interception on December 23, 2018 in a 24-10 Atlanta win over the Carolina Panthers.

2) Jamie Gillan–Cleveland Browns–The 22 year-old punter from Inverness, Scotland had his rookie season in 2019 and had 63 punts for 2913 yards. Gillan’s longest punt went 71 yards against the San Francisco 49ers on October 7, 2019 and had an average of 46.2 yards per punt for the season. Gillan also had four kickoffs for 150 yards, which was an average of 37.5 yards per kickoff.

1) Jay Ajayi–Philadelphia Eagles–The fifth year running back from London only played three games for the Eagles in 2019 and had 30 rushing yards in 10 carries. In his career with Philadelphia and Miami, Ajayi has had 572 rushes for 2546 yards and 13 touchdowns. He has also had 63 catches for 419 yards and one reception touchdown. Ajayi was also on the Eagles team that won the Super Bowl in 2018. In Super Bowl LII, Ajayi had nine carries for 57 yards as Philadelphia beat New England 41-33.