The NFL draft from tomorrow to Saturday will be historic from an Austrian perspective. With his expected first-round pick, Bernhard Raimann is likely to be the first Austrian in almost 35 years to play an NFL game in the 2022/23 season.
So far, red-white-red players in the US professional league in American football have only been active in the special position of the kicker. As the first field player, namely in the offensive line, the 24-year-old from Burgenland would also make history in this respect.
Three Austrians played in the NFL in the 1970s and 1980s. Former national soccer player Toni Fritsch won the Super Bowl with the Dallas Cowboys in 1972, Raimund “Ray” Wersching was successful in 1982 and 1985 with the San Francisco 49ers.
The emigrant son from Mondsee also played the last NFL game by an Austrian in 1987. Third in the group was Toni Linhart, who was born in Styria.
Alongside Raimann, Bernhard Seikovits (Arizona Cardinals) and Sandro Platzgummer (NY Giants) have been on training rosters for a year and two, respectively. (nkf)
Source: Nachrichten
