The NFL have been doing this International Player Pathway for a few years. Each year one division gets picked and then the 4 teams get assigned a player.
The NFL has specific regulations for players that sign through the IPP. The teams to which each IPP player is assigned are allowed 91 players on their off-season rosters. At the point when these rosters need to be cut to 53, the team can keep their IPP player on their 53-man roster or if they waive the player, he goes through the NFL's waiver system, which allows him to be claimed by another team. If he clears waivers, the team can sign the player to their practice squad. If they do, they may elect to take an exemption for the IPP player, giving them an extra spot on their practice squad. If they utilize the exemption, that player cannot be signed to the active roster of any team during the season. If the exemption is declined, the player is treated like any other practice squad player, and can be promoted to a team's active roster. If the player chooses to sign with a team other than the one to which he was assigned, that team may not claim the exemption.
The most successful guys have been Efe Obada at the Panthers and Oline Jordan Mailata at the Eagles which shows the program is more than a novelty and can bear genuine NFL level talent.
