At 26, Jeffrey M'Ba could become the second Frenchman to be "drafted" by a club in the NFL, the American football championship. Born in Libreville, Gabon, this defender discovered the sport late in France, before training in the United States. “I just want my name to be called. No matter who calls me, I will answer,” explains this player with an imposing physique.
Published on: 04/23/2026 - 07:28
Every year, the NFL draft, the event which allows different teams to select university players, arouses enormous enthusiasm in the United States, where American football is the king sport. This year, a Frenchman could attract attention. At 26 years old, Jeffrey M'Ba decided to enter the 2026 draft organized from April 23 to 27.
On his Instagram account, however, a video reminds us that his chances are slim: "There are 73,000 American university football players. 16,000 have the level to enter the draft. Only 1.6% are selected." Richard Tardits is the last and only Frenchman to have achieved this feat. This Franco-American was drafted in 1989 by the Arizona Cardinals in 123rd position and played 27 NFL games.
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Since then, no French player has participated in a regular season meeting. Last year, Frenchman Wilfried Pené had already tried his luck, without succeeding in being drafted. Finally signed by the New England Patriots as a "free agent" (player without a contract), he was unable to join his franchise due to visa issues.
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“Everyone was making fun of me”
Despite these difficulties, Jeffrey M'Ba wants to believe it. “When I started football, I always dreamed of playing in the United States at the highest level, in the NFL,” he confided in an interview published on his Instagram account. "Everyone was laughing at me: 'Who do you think you are? Do you really think you're going to play in the United States?'" he remembers.
It must be said that the African player was not at all destined to find himself on American football fields. Born in 1999 in Libreville, Gabon, he arrived in France at the age of four. He only discovered this sport twelve years later with the Hussars of La Roche-sur-Yon, in Vendée. Very quickly, his extraordinary size (1.97 m and 143 kilos) caused a sensation. He joined the French pole in Bordeaux and won, in his first season, the title of French champion with the Kangourous of Pessac.
A few weeks later, he flew to the United States and joined Saint Frances Academy in Baltimore. But his academic results did not allow him to enter an American university. The player is forced to return to France in 2020. Jeffrey M'Ba clings to his dream and ends up joining a junior college, the community college in Independence, Kansas, where he is quickly spotted as one of the best prospects.
More motivated than ever, he continues his journey with Auburn University in 2022, then Purdue University (2023–2024), where he plays all the matches of the 2024 season. "There are two important things in the States, American football and the army, far ahead of basketball, football is what brings them together. It's unimaginable all that we have at our disposal, equipment, sports supervision but not only that, I had shoulder surgery, I was sent to the best surgeon in the country, in 15 days, I was up, ready to play again!”, he described in 2023 to Ouest-France.
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“Win a ring at the Super Bowl”
Jeffrey M'Ba plays today with the SMU Mustangs, in the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), one of the most competitive university championships in the country. During his final season, he exploded with 42 tackles and five “sacks” – when a quarterback is tackled with the ball behind his line of scrimmage before having completed a forward pass.
Having become a nightmare for opposing lines, the defender was invited in January to the Senior Bowl, a sort of university All-Star Game, which allows him to get noticed before the draft. “I'm ready to prove that I'm the player that every NFL team needs. I'm going there to prove myself,” he explained to The Draft Network.
As the draft approaches, the Franco-Gabonese remains as confident as ever. "I just want my name to be called. No matter who calls me, I will answer. I'm going to cry because it would be an achievement," he confides on his Instagram account. "And then I'm going to get back to work, make the NFL, play pro, win a Super Bowl ring. That's all I dream of, all I want to accomplish."
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