Matt Leo might have a future in the NFL after all. Just not as a player.
The Eagles on Monday announced that they have hired Leo, a former defensive end, to their coaching staff just a couple weeks after Leo officially retired.
Leo, 31, has the title of “defensive and football operations assistant.”
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Leo first joined the Eagles back in 2020 as a part of the NFL’s International Player Pathway Program. He was placed on the Reserve/Retired list back on July 25. Leo had been on the practice squad in recent seasons with an international player exemption.
While Leo (6-7, 280) was a practice player for the Eagles, he never made the 53-man roster and never played in a regular season game.
Shortly after his retirement, NBC Sports Philadelphia learned that Leo was interested in coaching. He has been on the field with the team throughout the 2023 training camp and has been seen working with younger defensive linemen this summer.
Leo was born in Adelaide, Australia, and played rugby in high school. After graduation, Leo became a plumber at the urging of his father. But in February of 2013, Leo was taking a lunch break and watched Super Bowl XLVII between the Ravens and 49ers and began to dream of playing football. A couple years later, he left his secure plumbing job and moved to the United States to play football.
NFL
“I can remember clearly sitting there,” Leo said in 2020, “eating my lunch and watching it and thinking, ‘If only I had grown up in the US, I would have loved to have had the opportunity to play such an iconic sport.’ You watch it and you see these incredible athletes play. It’s almost like a movie scene.”
Leo also watched American football in TV shows and movies. One of his favorite football shows was Friday Night Lights.
After beginning his football career as a walk-on at Arizona Western Community College, Leo earned a scholarship to play at Iowa State. He played in 29 games for the Cyclones, registering 33 tackles, 3 sacks and 11 1/2 TFLs.
His NFL career never took off, but Leo has found a way to make a career out of football anyway.
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