The Denver Broncos are using a pre-draft visit on Uar Bernard, a freakish athlete who ran a 4.63 40 at 306 pounds.
The NFL has more than its share of freakish athletes, so it’s especially unusual when one stands out from the herd. But that’s definitely the case for Uar Bernard, the Nigerian prospect who’s been described as the NFL’s version of NBA superstar Victor Wembanyama.
The Denver Broncos have booked a draft visit with Bernard, and the comps are understandable. According to Luca Evans of the Denver Post, Bernard recently ran a 4.63 40-yard dash while weighing in at 306 pounds.
The rest of Bernard’s football background is beyond sketchy, though, which makes sense given that he’s a part of the league’s International Player Pathway. The program is set up to provide NFL opportunities for players with little or no direct football background who may have the athletic skills and mental fortitude to succeed.
The stories making the rounds about Bernard sound apocryphal, but most of them aren’t. The 21-year old who wears size-18.5 sneakers showed up at the NFL Draft evaluation in London without cleats, so that was one of his first needs that had to be met. Bernard wound up doing his vertical leap in socks, and according to Evans he hit 38 inches.
“He really is a super-freak,” said Javon Gopie, a longtime pass-rush consultant who’s worked with the IPP for four years. “Like — our nutritionist said that he’s had the highest testosterone levels that he’s ever seen from a guy his age.”
NFL coaches tend to salivate about this sort of thing, and Bernard gave them more to drool over during his workout at the Washington Commanders’ facility. The stats include a a 10-foot-10-inch broad jump, a 39-inch vertical, and that 4.63-second 40-yard dash.
The Broncos have joined the herd of teams that have interest, and Gopie offered an assessment that’s probably similar to the ones he’s given to plenty of other teams.
“I think they’re confident,” Gopie said of the Broncos, “that they can maximize who (Bernard) is as a player.”
So what does that mean, exactly? Think late-round draft pick. The Broncos have some history here, and it includes one of their star linebackers, according to GM George Paton.
“It’s great, it’s great,” Paton said last week in Arizona, at the NFL league meetings when he was asked about this sort of thing. “You may not be able to get a guy … in the free-agent world, it’s crazy, the chaos. And so, if we’re not going to get a guy (in the draft) — that happened with Jonathon Cooper, believe it or not.”
Bernard almost certainly won’t be the next Cooper given his sparse football bona fides, but he could become a Bronco if Denver likes what they see and they have a draft slot that fits his spot on their draft board. Someone will take a chance on Bernard, and he’s this year’s version of that guy to watch at the tail end of the draft just to see what happens.