The Bengals just signed a player from... ENGLAND?!?!

AtoZ Sports

John Sheeran shares the story of Dante Barnett, a player from the International Player Pathway program, that the Bengals signed after the 2025 NFL Draft.

Transcript

00:00The Bengals are bringing in a high-end athlete following the NFL draft with absolutely no risk

00:04attached to him at all. And in this video, I'll explain why it'll be very easy to root for him.

00:12Hi again, Bengals fans. John Sheeran of A to Z Sports Cincinnati here. And the Bengals

00:16offseason roster is reaching its, let's call it, maximum form. Because on top of 72 contracted

00:22players and the six players that they drafted in last week's NFL draft, there are about 14

00:26college free agents that are about to sign undrafted free agent deals with the team. Now,

00:30quick math tells us that that's 92 total players and the team is normally allowed to carry just 90

00:35players throughout an offseason. So there's going to be one or two moves that the Bengals are going

00:39to make to get back down to compliance. But one of those undrafted free agents can stay with the team

00:44without them having to make a subsequent move. And that is because the Bengals have decided to dip

00:48their toes into the NFL's international player pathway program to sign none other than Dante

00:54Barnett. Now, before we talk a little bit about Barnett and who he is and where he comes from,

00:58let's talk a little bit about this program. In a nutshell, the NFL obviously wants to expand

01:02internationally. They want to get as many people from around the world as interested in the game.

01:06And one of their efforts is the international player pathway program. So every single year,

01:10there is a pool of about a dozen or so players who then become eligible to be drafted in that year's

01:15NFL draft or to be signed after the draft as an undrafted free agent. And the advantage for one of

01:19these teams is if they draft or sign one of these players, then they get a roster exemption, which

01:24means they can carry up to 91 players because that one guy from the national pathway program,

01:29he does not count. And if they choose to keep him on the practice squad that season, they get to keep

01:32him as a 17th member of a 16 player practice squad. Essentially, there is no risk to signing an IPP

01:38player as an undrafted free agent. And that's what the Bengals are doing with Barnett. So who is Dante

01:43Barnett? Well, he once was a young teenager from Birmingham, England, who decided he wanted to pursue

01:47sports, but he wasn't quite sure what sport that was going to be. He tried rugby, he tried soccer,

01:52you know, the classics over there across the pond, but he landed on American football. And there was

01:56an NFL academy not too far away from where he grew up in Birmingham. And he spent three years there

02:01developing his craft and decided that he wanted to pursue college football over here in the States.

02:05And he tried to get into notable programs specifically in Texas, like TCU and SMU, but he didn't

02:10quite have the academic progress that he needed to in order to join those teams. So he ended up settling

02:15for a division three school in Pennsylvania called Dickinson College. Now, according to Dickinson's

02:19website, he only played there for one season in 2022, and he eventually moved back over to England,

02:24but he still kept in shape, hoping that an opportunity to play football would come up again

02:27because football became very important to him. It wasn't too long after he joined the NFL academy

02:32over in England that his father passed away. So he became very attached to just ingracing himself

02:37within the game. So when he wasn't working on an assembly line at a Jaguar Land Rover plant,

02:41he was keeping in shape, he was working out, and he was knocking on as many doors as he possibly could

02:45have. And eventually, a door opened up for the IPP. And it's no secret why the NFL chose him as a part

02:51of this year's program, because Dante Barnett is a very, very good athlete. He's listed as a defensive

02:56tackle and a very undersized one at that. He's only 6'1", about 275 pounds. But man, can he scoot.

03:02As part of the IPP, he got to work out at the University of South Florida's Pro Day back in March,

03:06and according to Dane Brukler, he was clocked running a 469 40-yard dash at that size.

03:11So the speed and explosion for a potential developmental pass-rushing defensive tackle,

03:16that's definitely there for Barnett. Obviously, everything else is a giant unknown. He only has

03:20one year of playing experience at a Division III school, and that's about it. He didn't play high

03:24school ball. He didn't get high-level coaching in college. His pre-draft process was completely

03:28different than most other players. But this has been a dream of his for the better part of the last

03:32decade, and he pushed himself harder than I would imagine most people in his shoes would have.

03:36And the best part about this is Barnett doesn't have to prove that he's one of the 53 best players

03:40in the Bengals roster. He doesn't even have to prove that he's one of the 16 players worth a

03:43practice squad spot, because again, the Bengals can keep him as number 17. All this really is,

03:48is just a phenomenal story coming to fruition. And yes, there have been past success stories with

03:52the NFL's IPP program, the most notable one being Philadelphia Eagles offensive tackle

03:56Jordan Maialata. And if you want to go one level deeper, the Bengals didn't sign a pass-rushing

04:00defensive tackle for agency, and then they didn't draft a defensive tackle at all in the NFL draft.

04:04It's going to be Barnett and two other undrafted free agents and Howard Cross III from Notre Dame

04:09and Eric Gregory from Arkansas who are going to fill out that room in training camp. So there

04:13actually is going to be a very small window for Barnett to show what he's got at that position

04:17for the Bengals. But in all likelihood, you'll see Barnett on the practice squad by the time the

04:21offseason ends, and he'll get even more time to develop his craft. Beyond that, that's just another

04:25part of the journey for him. He made it this far, so who am I to count him out?

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