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This autumn Wembley Stadium hosts three more NFL International Series games.

By the time the third and final game, Kansas City Chiefs vs Detroit Lions, kicks off on November 1 there will be one player on the field fulfilling his lifelong dream.

Standing at just 5ft 8in tall and weighing a mere 174lbs, Cairo Santos isn’t your average American Football player. Santos was born in Brazil. Growing up in Sao Paolo, like most Brazilian boys, he wanted to become a football player, but not the kind of football player he is now. “I grew up dreaming of becoming a soccer player and now I call myself a professional football player”, said Santos on his visit to London this week. “The ultimate goal is to become a professional athlete and I get to do that.”

“Ronaldinho was my native hero, but Frank Lampard was my favourite player growing up.” Forget Big Ben, the London Eye, or Buckingham Palace, Santos made Stamford Bridge his first destination when he landed in England. “I was a midfield player in Brazil and worshipped Lampard. I loved watching Chelsea and England playing.”

The Kansas City Chiefs’ kicker completed his rookie season in 2014. The 24 year old didn’t start playing the game until nine years ago. “I moved to the US to learn English when I was 15. I discovered football through the culture and my friends convinced me to give it a go because they saw that I could kick a ball and their team needed a kicker.”

It wasn’t long before a few talent scouts spotted his ability to kick the oblong-shaped ball as he adapted to his new life in Florida. “I started to get pretty good at it, a few talent scouts spotted me and I worked hard on getting a scholarship. Tulane were interested me and I ended up there. The rest is history.”

Santos received interest from Georgia Tech in Jacksonville and Miami University, but he moved to Tulane in Louisiana. He played in all 12 games during his freshman year and was named to the Conference USA All-Freshman Team. 2012 was his breakout season as he went 26 of 27 on point after conversions (his only miss was blocked) and a perfect 21 of 21 on field goals including a school record 57-yard field goal. “I did it (play American Football) just through curiosity, so I could tell my friends and family about it back home.”

He signed for the Chiefs as an undrafted free agent in May 2014. During his rookie season he converted 25 of 30 field goal attempts, “I was pleased with how the season went. I could have played a bit better and I know the kicks that I missed were down to lack of experience and the cold conditions in Kansas. But I know what to expect from the crowd and the windy conditions, so I’m looking forward to the new season.”

And he’ll get to fulfil his ambition of playing at Wembley Stadium this coming season, “watching Frank Lampard play for England and Chelsea at Wembley I always wanted to go there.” Although he’s playing a different kind of football nowadays he’ll relish his moment on the field of England’s national stadium, “I still get soccer emotions running out in the field. Kicking a field goal is very much like taking a free kick in the 90th minute. The emotions are similar”.

“We get to visit Wembley the day before the game and I can’t wait to have a moment all to myself and reflect on how far I’ve come.” Santos has also examined Chelsea’s fixture list and highlighted their game at home to Liverpool just 24hrs before his Chiefs team take on the Detroit Lions, “I’m hopeful that I will be allowed to sneak out and watch that game.”

Cairo Santos was speaking at the NFL’s Play 60 touch football tournament near Central London, an initiative set up by NFL UK to introduce youngsters in the city to the sport. Six schools from the London Borough took part in the Summer Bowl tournament where each team was coached by an NFL player. A player from each of the teams playing in London this autumn visited the UK on a promotional tour for the International Series.

The Kansas City Chiefs play their home games at Arrowhead Stadium. They host the Detroit Lions on November 1 at Wembley Stadium. Last October the Lions beat the Atlanta Falcons at Wembley in dramatic circumstances by kicking a field goal in the last second of the game. The Lions won 22-21.

There will be at least three more NFL International Series games at Wembley in 2016.

In an exclusive interview with 5thDownUK, NFL UK managing director, Alistair Kirkwood spoke candidly about moving the sport into its next phase of development in this country.

He also revealed that the NFL had input into Tottenham Hotspurs’ new stadium design and said that he hopes to see children’s football leagues set up across London and beyond.

“We won’t know until September what the likely plans are for 2016”, said Kirkwood when asked for the latest on next year’s games. “Teams only get eight home games a season, so it’s difficult to encourage them to give one of those up. There’s a lot for them to consider; most importantly their fans.”

Alistair Kirkwood attended the International Series Media Day which included the Play 60 flag football event where six London schools were competing in their Summer Bowl. It was the culmination of an intitiative to introduce the sport to youngsters this side of the Atlantic.

“We don’t know if there will be four games next year”, revealed Kirkwood, “we’re certainly not going to go backwards though.” He wouldn’t confirm the rumours coming out of Jacksonville that the Jaguars are about to announce a new four year deal with the NFL which will see the franchise play further games annually in London from 2017, “I’ve seen that story too, but it’s news to me. I see it as a positive though, because that means we’re guaranteed a home team each year.”

“The Jags have been brilliant in pushing us into the community to develop the game more with more grassroots focus, so if they do want to come on board more that would be great.”

Jacksonville’s new Safety, Sergio Brown, was one of six players over here coaching London children at the Summer Bowl. A player from each of this year’s visiting teams had a London school to lead and the competition was as rife between the coaches as it was between the children. “Just ask him how his team did just now”, teased the Detroit Lions running back, Joique Bell, as he broke from media formalities to wind up the Miami Dolphins defensive end, Olivier Vernon.

The players who attended the media day:

Sergio Brown, Jacksonville Jaguars Safety

Cordy Glenn, Buffalo Bills Tackle

Cairo Santos, Kansas City Chiefs Kicker

Joique Bell, Detroit Lions Running Back

Olivier Vernon, Miami Dolphins DE

Nick Mangold, New York Jets Center

Alistair Kirkwood was pleased with the event and enthused about the growth of the game on these shores, “we’re going into the next phase of development. We’ve been well known for our Wembley events, the Regent Street events and such like. The sport’s grown on TV and our fan base is growing. Now we want to grow our roots and offer an alternative to indigenous sports.”

The children were fully engaged in the activities the NFL put on. As well as the touch football games, they took had coaching sessions and even a 20 yard dash. “As a pilot programme we’ve partnered six London schools,” said Mr Kirkwood as he described the events that were taking place. “They have partnered with the six teams that are coming coming over this autumn. They’ve Skype-called the head coaches and players. They’ve also partnered with a sister school over in the States that’s within the locality of the team they’re representing. The chief nutritionist from one of the teams has also come over to give advice.”

This latest phase of work for NFL UK is to develop the sport over here and to get more children playing it, though Alistair Kirkwood pointed out that it isn’t all about keeping children fit, ” this isn’t just a physical activity, it’s also about helping the children mentally.” The NFL offers underprivileged youngsters in the States a way out of poverty. The sport gives them a sense of belonging, values and a college education.

The NFL Commissioner, Roger Goodell, fully endorses what they’re trying to do over here, “he wants us to stand for more than just putting on games,” Kirkwood confirmed. “We have an aspiration to develop pop warner football across the UK. There’s a huge population, but we plan to spread it across London and if we can do well there then we hope we can open arms elsewhere in the country.”

It was also confirmed that the NFL had an input in the design of Tottenham’s new stadium. The changing rooms will be larger than your average Premier League team’s to accommodate the huge squads that American Football clubs have. The NFL logo will be branded around the stadium as proudly as Spurs’ cockerel.

From 2018 we will have at least two regular season games played at that new stadium. There could be more played there and there is the option of further games at Wembley.

As the game is offered to more schools across the country and with the promise of fixtures for the next twelve years, rest assured that this looks like a sport that’s here to stay.

The beavers at 5th Down UK have been badgering away, not only creating dodgy mixed metaphors, but also a shiny new blog page!!

Check here later in July, as we start ramping up towards the 2015/16 NFL season!!

The NFL have suspended the New England Patriots quarterback, Tom Brady, for his role in the deflategate scandal.

Last night the league punished the Super Bowl MVP with a four game suspension without pay. Brady will miss the first four games of the 2015 season. The Patriots received a $1 million fine and lost two draft picks, including next year’s first round pick and the fourth round pick for 2017.

The games Brady will miss:

Week 1 – home to Steelers

Week 2 – at Bills

Week 3 – home to Jaguars

Week 4 – Bye

Week 5 – at Cowboys

Last season’s Super Bowl winners were under investigation for ball tampering during their AFC Championship game at home to the Indianapolis Colts.

Last week a report found that Brady was “generally aware” that balls had been deflated. The game was played in wet conditions and balls that have a lower psi allow the quarterback to grip and control them better.

A statement from the NFL said:
“The New England Patriots were notified today of the following discipline that has been imposed for violations of the NFL Policy on Integrity of the Game and Enforcement of Competitive Rules relating to the use of under-inflated footballs in the AFC Championship Game of this past season.”

“For the violation of the playing rules and the failure to cooperate in the subsequent investigation, the New England Patriots are fined one million US dollars and will forfeit the club’s first-round selection in the 2016 NFL Draft and the club’s fourth-round selection in the 2017 NFL Draft.”

“If the Patriots have more than one selection in either of these rounds, the earlier selection shall be forfeited. The club may not trade or otherwise encumber these selections.”

“Quarterback Tom Brady will be suspended without pay for the first four games of the 2015 regular season for conduct detrimental to the integrity of the NFL.”

“Brady may participate in all off-season, training camp and pre-season activities, including pre-season games.”

What happens to the guys who tampered the ball?

Locker room attendant Jim McNally and equipment assistant John Jastremski were suspended without pay by the club after that independent report found it was “more probable than not” that they “participated in a deliberate effort to release air from Patriots game balls after the balls were examined by the referee”.

The NFL said, “Neither of these individuals may be reinstated without the prior approval of NFL Executive Vice President of Football Operations Troy Vincent.”

“If they are reinstated by the Patriots, Jastremski is prohibited from having any role in the preparation, supervision, or handling of footballs to be used in NFL games during the 2015 season.”

“McNally is barred from serving as a locker room attendant for the game officials, or having any involvement with the preparation, supervision, or handling of footballs or any other equipment on game day.”

The pressure will be on Brady’s back-up QB, last season’s second-round pick, Jimmy Garoppolo in those opening weeks. Rex Ryan and his new look Bills must be relishing the thought of putting one over their divisional rivals as early as Week 2.

Tom Brady will return to action in Week 6 when the Patriots travel to…you guessed it, the Indianapolis Colts. You couldn’t make it up.

The agent for New England Patriots’ Tom Brady today said that the NFL’s ‘Deflategate’ probe was flawed.

Don Yee, the QB’s agent, called the NFL’s investigation “a significant and terrible disappointment” and suggested the league reached its conclusion before hearing the facts.

“Its omission of key facts and lines of inquiry suggest the investigators reached a conclusion first, and then determined so-called facts later,” Don Yee said in a statement.

On Wednesday the NFL said the New England Patriots probably deliberately deflated footballs to gain an advantage in the AFC title game in January.

Last night saw further acquisitions made by all 32 NFL teams in this year’s draft.

The clock started ticking at midnight and each team had fewer minutes to make their picks.

Trades were being made quick. The Giants moved straight away to take the Titans’ first overall pick of the night. They took safety Landon Collins to help fill a secondary that had just one safety on their roster.

The Titans spiced up their offense with the exciting wide receiver Dorial Green-Beckham, whilst the Saints took quarterback Garrett Grayson in the third round.

Round 2

So other than the Titans holding onto their 2nd pick, there weren’t any surprises at the top of last nights draft – as expected the Buccs took Jameis Winston with the number 1 pick, and Marcus Mariota will be strutting his stuff in Nashville as the number 2 pick. In an interesting twist of fate, we’ll be able to compare them pretty quickly, as the Buccs face the Titans in Week 1.

Winston and Mariota are not the 1st pair of QBs to be taken with the opening picks of the draft, but its only happened 5 times before…. and history says that one of these guys isn’t going to make it:

2012:
Andrew Luck went #1 to the Indianapolis Colts, and has his side a real title contender.
RG3 went #2 (via a big pick trade with the Rams) to the Washington Redskins, and his place in side is under real threat.

1999:
Tim Couch went #1 to the Cleveland Browns, and was out of the league in 5 years.
Donovan McNabb went #2 to the Philadelphia Eagles, made 6 pro-bowls, and took them to within an inch of winning the Superbowl.

1998:
Peyton Manning went #1 to the Indianapolis Colts in one of the most famous QB races to the #1 pick. After a glittering career, he’s a lock for the Hall of Fame.
Ryan Leaf went #2 to the San Diego Chargers and bummed out of the league within a couple of years.

1993:
Drew Bledsoe went #1 to the New England Patriots and won a Superbowl, along with 4 pro-bowl appearances.
Rick Mirer went #2 to the Seattle Seahawks, but other than a good rookie season, fell off the scene quickly after that.

However, there is a chance that both these guys can make a home in the NFL, but we have to go a long way back to find two successful QBs from the top picks in the draft:

1971:
Jim Plunkett went #1 to the New England Patriots. Plunkett had an up and down career, but eventually found success as an Oakland Raider, winning 2 Superbowls. Not yet in Canton, he’s the only QB with 2 rings not yet in a yellow jacket.
Archie Manning went #2 to the New Orleans Saints. He had a 13 year career, mostly on losing teams (and never making a playoff appearance), but appeared in 2 pro-bowls. What he missed in the playoffs, he certainly made up for through his sons Peyton and Eli!

The first round of the 2015 NFL draft threw up few surprises. As expected, Jameis Winston, the Florida State QB, was picked first overall by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Much of the talk leading up to the draft was of a potential trade with the Tennessee Titans for the their second overall pick. Nothing transpired and the Titans opted to go for their future franchise QB, Marcus Mariota.

Other intriguing moves included Oakland’s pick at fourth for the leading wide receiver from this year’s group, Amari Cooper. Cooper has been branded as the Odell Beckham of this year’s class and he’ll provide a quality weapon for the Raiders’ young QB Derek Carr.

Kevin White was the second wide receiver to be drafted last night. The Bears took him and that led to a standing ovation from the Chicago crowd. They’ll be hoping that Jay Cutler can find some form and feed him.

The St Louis Rams matched the offenses in their strong NFC West division by drafting Todd Gurley at ten. He was the first running back to be drafted last night and he strengthens a team that has, for years, had to contend with the likes of Frank Gore (49ers) and Marshawn Lynch (Seahawks).

A player regarded as the best player in this year’s draft was picked by the Jets at six. Leonard Williams boosts their defensive line and will pile more pressure on the ageing Tom Brady in that AFC East.

ROUND 1
1. Tampa Bay: Jameis Winston, QB, Florida State
2. Tennessee: Marcus Mariota, QB, Oregon
3. Jacksonville: Dante Fowler Jr., OLB, Florida
4. Oakland: Amari Cooper, WR, Alabama
5. Washington: Brandon Scherff, OT, Iowa
6. N.Y. Jets: Leonard Williams, DT, USC
7. Chicago: Kevin White, WR, West Virginia
8. Atlanta: Vic Beasley, OLB, Clemson
9. N.Y. Giants: Ereck Flowers, OT, Miami
10. St. Louis: Todd Gurley, RB, Georgia
11. Minnesota: Trae Waynes, CB, Michigan State
12. Cleveland: Danny Shelton, DT, Washington
13. New Orleans: Andrus Peat, OT, Stanford
14. Miami: DeVante Parker, WR, Louisville
15. San Diego (from San Francisco): Melvin Gordon, RB, Wisconsin
16. Houston: Kevin Johnson, CB, Wake Forest
17. San Francisco (from San Diego): Arik Armstead, DL, Oregon
18. Kansas City: Marcus Peters, CB, Washington
19. Cleveland (from Buffalo): Cameron Erving, C, Florida State
20. Philadelphia: Nelson Agholor, WR, USC
21. Cincinnati: Cedric Ogbuehi, OT, Texas A&M
22. Pittsburgh: Bud Dupree, OLB, Kentucky
23. Denver (from Detroit): Shane Ray, DE, Missouri
24. Arizona: D.J. Humphries, OT, Florida
25. Carolina: Shaq Thompson, LB, Washington
26. Baltimore: Breshad Perrimon, WR, Central Florida
27. Dallas: Byron Jones, CB, Connecticut
28. Detroit (from Dallas): Laken Tominlinson, G, Duke
29. Indianapolis: Phillip Dorsett, WR, Miami
30. Green Bay: Damarious Randall, S, Arizona State
31. New Orleans (from Seattle): Stephone Anthony, ILB, Clemson
32. New England: Malcolm Brown, DT, Texas

It’s highly likely that the first two names called out by Roger Goodell this Thursday are going to be Quarterbacks. It’s also not much surprise in which order they will be called – Jameis Winston is a lock for the Tampa Bay Buccs as the first overall pick, and whether it’s the Titans, or another ambitious suitor, Marcus Mariota is likely to be up next as Number 2.

However, if you’re a fan of the Buccs or the Titans (or the Chargers, Browns, Jets, Bears or Eagles for that matter), grabbing one of these young fellas is no slam dunk for success. There are more 1st round busts at the Quarterback position than any other. Here is a quick look back at the last 12 QBs to be picked in the 1st round:

Kicking ass:

• Andrew Luck – 1st pick in 2012
• Cam Newton – 1st pick in 2011
• Teddy Bridgewater – 32nd pick in 2014

Solid starters:

• Ryan Tannehill – 8th pick in 2012
• Blake Bortles – 3rd pick in 2014

Amazingly still in work:

• Brandon Weeden – 22nd pick in 2012
• EJ Manuel – 16th pick in 2013
• Christian Ponder – 12th pick in 2012
• Blaine Gabbert – 10th pick in 2012

Out the league:

• Jake Locker – 8th pick in 2011

Total mystery:

• RG3 – 2nd pick in 2012
• Johnny Manziel – 22nd pick in 2014

So, from this list, it’s safe to say that taking a top rated signal caller in the draft only has at best a 50% success rate. We’ll be watching the draft with excitement, but many will be watching the start of the new season with trepidation.

The popularity of the NFL continues to grow here in the UK, but the college game is still largely uncovered. Jameis Winston and Marcus Mariota aside, most of the 1st round talent will be exciting but unknown commodities to us over here when the Draft hits Chicago next week.

Here at the 5th Down UK, we’ll be writing some posts about the history of the draft, and profiling a few new faces to keep an eye out for, but in the meantime, we reached out to some big UK fans, to see what they are hoping for for their teams:

Jake Boston (@jakeboston) – Chicago Bears

“I’ve heard the Mariota rumour, but I think we need to draft a few top defensive players – if they go offence, the wide receiver Amari Cooper is supposed to be good, and would a good replacement Marshall. I like what Fox & Pace have done so far though.”

Aaron Shergold (@aaronshergold) – Minnesota Vikings

“Personally I’d like the Vikings to continue to improve the Defence – I’ve heard the Michigan CB Trae Waynes is NFL-ready. However, I’d be also be happy if we get one of the top wide receivers – Devante Parker hooking back up with Teddy would be great. The draft is exciting for Vikings fans these days – Rick Speilman has had a great couple of years.”

Beau Boston (@beau_boston) – Detroit Lions

“Definitely think we need to go offensive lineman. Really need to protect Stafford as much as possible and help the running game. Was probably the main reason our Offence struggled last year. Failing that, I’d be happy with either of the two big running backs, Gurley or Gordon, if they fall to us”

Anthony Wootton (@anthonyrwootton) – San Francisco 49ers

“Baalke likes big guys. The 9ers need their front and center refilling due to the retirements after last season. We’re all still waiting for Justin Smith to retire too. Elsewhere they need speed outside. Torrey Smith was a good weapon for Kaepernick, but Boldin is getting old and we could use more targets.”

If you want to send us your draft dreams, send us a message to @5thDownUK and we’ll post up on the blog!!