Super Bowl 2026: Aden Durde’s incredible journey with Seattle Seahawks to NFL’s showpiece game

When Durde returned from further internships in 2015 and 2016 – with Dallas and the Atlanta Falcons – he continued to work for the NFL in London, sharing an office with two-time Super Bowl winner Osi Umenyiora.

The pair came up with the idea of a programme to help international athletes transition to the NFL, effectively an American football crash-course which became known as the International Player Pathway.

Durde later ran the programme, which helped Obada get signed by the Carolina Panthers in 2017. Later that year Durde was the first American football coach to work-out ex-rugby league player Jordan Mailata.

As with Obada, Durde soon saw his potential and the Australian came through the programme before being drafted by the Philadelphia Eagles in 2018. He is now one of the NFL’s best offensive tackles and won last year’s Super Bowl.

“Jordan went from not knowing any of the position names to being drafted in four months,” said Henry Hodgson, general manager of NFL UK & Ireland, who used to write a players’ diary for Durde on the NFL Europe website.

“For Aden to have uploaded enough of his knowledge for someone to be drafted and go on to where he is now, that tells you what a great teacher he is.”

It was then that Durde realised he could become an NFL coach.

“To do that from the UK is unprecedented because there isn’t an obvious pathway,” Hodgson added.

“The fact that Aden not only has done it, but has got to the level he’s at now speaks to someone who is single minded, will figure stuff out for themselves and has the wherewithal to make something work if it’s their passion or their dream.”

Allen always felt that Durde, who had two head-coach interviews last month, had “the juice” to become an NFL coach.

“He has the authenticity and the communication skills, and when you have that, you can conjure belief in people,” he said.

“He’s a very honest person and I think a lot of people buy into that, pretty much instantly.”