There are many great NFL players with very different backgrounds. One background that often goes overlooked is the Canadian-born players in the league.
In this article, we will be showcasing these players and looking at the top-10 Canadian NFL players.
N’Keal Harry kicks off this list as he enters his fifth NFL season, and first with the Minnesota Vikings. The 2019 first rounder played his first three seasons with the New England Patriots, but as he has struggled with consistency, he now finds himself with his third team.
Harry has great tools to be a great receiver as he stands tall at 6ft4, but still has great speed and agility. It will be interesting to see if Harry can fit right in with the Vikings and play in a far more prominent role.
Next is another wide receiver in Chase Claypool. Claypool burst into the NFL, with nine touchdowns, and still career highs in receptions (62) and yards (873) in his rookie year in 2020. However, Claypool has never returned to that form in five subsequent seasons.
Claypool enters the season with his third new team, and will have lots of work ahead of him to be seen behind Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle in Miami. He is just 26 years old, and has some time left to show the elite promise he demonstrated in the 2020 season.
Brent Urban is next on this list, and he has been doing this for a long time. The defensive edge came into the NFL after being drafted by the Baltimore Ravens in 2014. After four years with the team, Urban went on to play for three other teams, before returning to Baltimore in 2022.
Urban brings a steady, veteran presence to the line, and even though he is more of a depth piece, just last season he earned career highs in sacks (3), tackles for loss (5), and QB hits (6).
Another wide receiver in John Metchie is next. Metchie missed his entire first season in 2022 due to illness. However, he battled through his Leukemia diagnosis, and inspiringly made his way into the league.
His first full season was last year, and included 16 games played, with 16 receptions and 158 receiving yards. He is young and has many great traits, but with a stacked wide receiver core in Houston that includes Stefon Diggs, Nico Collins and Tank Dell, we may not see him in a prominent role just yet.
Nathan Shepard is another Canadian NFL player who has many years under his belt. After spending his first five seasons in the league with the New York Jets, Shepard is continuing a new chapter of his career with the New Orleans Saints in his second season with them.
Shepard started every game last season for the first time in his career, and smashed his tackle and sack numbers. Look for him to play a prominent role again in this upcoming season.
The only cornerback on this list is Benjamin St. Juste for the Washington Commanders, and he kicks off the top five Canadians in the NFL. He is entering his fourth season in the league, and has been greatly improving each year.
Last season he started 16 games and blew virtually every one of his career highs out of the water. He is young, and only getting better. Watch for him to continue to build his way up as a strong cornerback in this league.
Next is Josh Palmer, who has been a very strong depth receiver for the Los Angeles Chargers. Behind the likes of Keenan Allen and Mike Williams, Palmer has taken every advantage and ran with it, and has posted some decent career stats thus far.
Now with those two players gone, Palmer enters the 2024 season with a massive opportunity to be the number one target for quarterback Justin Herbert, and hopefully take off with a monster year. Palmer certainly has the tools to do so.
Arguably the best offensive Canadian in the league is running back Chuba Hubbard. Hubbard has shown some incredible promise and talent since entering in 2021. After the Christian McCaffrey trade and the decline of Miles Sanders, Hubbard has earned a more prominent role on the team. He will be looking to take advantage and dominate in an even more exclusive starting position.
Last season, he took a major jump, surpassing his carries, rushing yards, receptions, and receiving yards. Look for him to try and best these totals yet again as a key piece of this rebuilding Panthers squad.
Veteran David Onyemata is next on this list as an extremely powerful defensive tackle for the Atlanta Falcons. The 31-year-old came into the league in 2016, and has played 120 games up to this point. His long career has been extremely impressive, and he is not done yet.
Last season proved that any age decline has not started yet. In his first season with Atlanta, he surpassed career highs in combined tackles (50) and forced fumbles (2), while matching his best in solo tackles (25) and QB hits (16).
At the top of this list is Miami Dolphins’ free safety Jevon Holland. Holland is a menacing defender who is entering his fourth season, and has quickly become a major piece of Miami’s defensive unit. He missed five games last season due to multiple injuries, and his absence was extremely noticed.
Not only is Holland an elite Canadian, but he is an elite defensive player in the league. In a short time his stats have proven that, and after a down year in 2023, look for him to come back at full force in 2024.
NFL
Canadians in the NFL Championship
All 32 of the NFL's teams are based in the United States, but a few Canadian players have broken into the league and made it all the way to the NFL Championship.
Rusty Gorelick
Jan 30 2024
