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Matt Leo
Australian player of American football (born 1992) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Matthew Leo[1] (born 8 May 1992) is an Australian former American football defensive end and coach who is a player development assistant for the Philadelphia Eagles of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Iowa State Cyclones and spent three seasons with the Eagles as a player, joining them through the International Player Pathway Program (IPPP).
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Early life and education
Matthew Leo was born on 8 May 1992 in Adelaide, South Australia,[2][3] and raised in the suburb of Semaphore. He played Australian rules football for St Michael's College, Adelaide, in year 10.[4] However his passion was rugby league and he played for a club in Adelaide.[5] Matt is of Rotuman descent from his paternal side.
He worked as a plumber before playing American football professionally.[6][7][8] He went to college at Arizona Western College[9] before going to Iowa State, making his debut at the age of 26.[10][8] He was a medical redshirt in 2017.[11][12][13] He had 33 tackles and 3 sacks in his college football career.[14][8] He was named first-team Academic All-Big 12 in 2019.[15]
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Professional career
On 27 April 2020, Leo was allocated to the Philadelphia Eagles as part of the International Player Pathway Program.[16][17][18][19][20] He was waived during final roster cuts on 4 September 2020,[21] and signed to the practice squad under an international player exemption two days later.[22][23] He signed a reserve/future contract with the team after the season on 4 January 2021.[24]
Leo was selected by the Edmonton Elks in the fourth round (35th overall) of the 2021 CFL Global Draft in April 2021.[25] On 4 May 2021, he was given an NFL roster exemption as an international player for a second season.[26]
On 31 August 2021, Leo was waived by the Eagles and re-signed to the practice squad the next day.[27][28] He signed a reserve/future contract with the Eagles on 18 January 2022.[29]
On 30 August 2022, Leo was waived by the Eagles and signed to the practice squad the next day.[30][31] On 15 February 2023, Leo signed a reserve/future contract with the Eagles.[32]
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Post-playing career
On 25 July 2023, Leo announced his retirement from the NFL.[33] Soon after, he was hired as a defensive and football operations assistant on the coaching staff.[34] On 9 June 2024, Leo was promoted to the role of player development assistant.[35]
References
External links
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