Canadians in the NFL made impact through the 2020 seasons
The current NFL season has reached its quarter mark, and there are several Canadian players who have been making an impact for their teams during four games.
Entering the 2020 season, the hype surrounding emerging Canadian talents received a boost from Neville Gallimore and Chase Claypool, both of whom were selected in the 2020 NFL Draft by the Dallas Cowboys and Pittsburgh Steelers, respectively. But with the COVID-19 pandemic changing the way NFL teams approached training camp and eliminating pre-season games, the opportunity for rookies to earn prominent playing time over veterans out of camp became even much more challenging than usual. However, that hasn’t impeded Claypool’s progress.
During the Week 4 Sunday night matchup between the San Francisco 49ers and Philadelphia Eagles, Alex Singleton – Eagles linebacker and former CFL Most Outstanding Defensive Player – made a game-changing pick-six in order to help seal his team’s first victory of the season. Used almost exclusively on particular teams during his time in eagles, Singleton took full advantage and played the most defensive snaps of his career in San Francisco.
Meanwhile, Chase Claypool of Pittsburgh Steelers is another Canadian player who is impressively contributing through the first four games of the 2020 NFL season. Three NFL games into his career, Claypool has created a nice collection of highlights so far. His first catch came on Monday Night Football when he stretched his arms to catch a 28-yard pass at the same time keeping his feet inbounds. That was such a great play!
Another name we need to mention here is Brent Urban of Chicago Bears. After making four tackles against the Indianapolis Colts last week, he received the highest grade among all Bears defenders by Pro Football Focus.
Urban had his best season with the Baltimore Ravens in 2018 with a record of 26 tackles in 16 games. He would be able to even surpass that if he continues to see an uptick in snaps in the Windy City.