Meet the seven Greater Toronto Area players on 2022 NFL rosters
Brampton’s Josh Palmer is making noise for the Los Angeles Chargers, but he’s not the only local in the NFL.
It’s a special distinction in the NFL, particularly with a rabid subset of fans: The buzz-worthy fantasy-sports pick-up. Brampton’s own Josh Palmer got a taste of that last week as fellow Los Angeles Chargers receiver Keenan Allen hit the injured list, an unfortunate event that nonetheless ensured the second-year Palmer more snaps and targets.
And he didn’t disappoint. In a nationally televised game against the Kansas City Chiefs on Thurs., Sept. 15, Palmer pulled in four catches on eight targets — one of them a fourth-quarter touchdown.
Former #Vols WR, Josh Palmer, with a touchdown late in the 4th quarter, for the #Chargers.#TNFonPrime
— Volunteer Sports Network (@VSNtweets_) September 16, 2022
pic.twitter.com/rZc73ZA8Ml
The Chiefs eked out the win over Palmer’s Chargers, but his performance now puts him on pace for 60 catches — a solid sophomore year by any measure.
While Palmer is the one making the most recent headlines, he’s not the only player from the GTA gracing an NFL roster in 2022. In fact, he’s just one of seven.
Here’s a quick bio on each of them, including the local man of the hour:
Josh Palmer
Team: Los Angeles Chargers
Position: Wide receiver
Status: Active
Hometown: Brampton
Now 23 years old, Palmer grew up as a multi-sport athlete and attended Brampton’s St. Roch Catholic Secondary. He went south to the U.S. for his final two years of high school before committing to play football for Tennessee, where he went on to accumulate 99 catches and 1,514 yards receiving over four years.
Palmer was drafted in the third round of the 2021 NFL Draft as a new weapon for hotshot quarterback Justin Herbert. He’s already notched nearly as many touchdowns in the NFL — five — as he did in college — eight.
Michael Hoecht
Team: Los Angeles Rams
Position: Defensive Lineman
Status: Active
Hometown: Oakville
Born in Oakville, Hoecht bounced between Canada and the U.S. during his formative years, and attended both the North Toronto Collegiate Institute and Ohio’s Oakwood High School.
He went undrafted in 2020 after playing college football at Brown, but soon got picked up by the Rams and spent his first NFL season on the practice squad. The 2021 season went a little better — he played in all 17 regular-season games and topped it off with a playoff run that included beating the Cincinnati Bengals to win Super Bowl LVI.
In doing so, Hoecht became just the 10th Canadian-born player to win the Lombardi Trophy. He was the first since Chiefs offensive lineman Laurent Duvernay-Tardiff in 2020, and the first GTA player since San Francisco 49ers punter Klaus Wilmsmeyer — a Mississauga native — in 1995.
Brent Urban
Team: Baltimore Ravens
Position: Defensive End
Status: Active
Hometown: Mississauga
Speaking of Mississauga…
Urban is the current longest-tenured and most-traveled local in the NFL. He started his career with four seasons in Baltimore, then spent three bouncing between Chicago, Tennessee, and Dallas, and now — at 31 years old — he’s back for a fifth season with the Ravens.
What’s more impressive is the 6’7” defensive end didn’t start playing football until Grade 11. Prior to that, he was a bantam AAA hockey player who suited up alongside some future NHL talent on the Mississauga Ice Dogs.
Nathan Shepherd
Team: New York Jets
Position: Defensive Tackle
Status: Active
Hometown: Ajax
The kind of story movie scripts are made of.
Short version: Shepherd grew up in Ajax, and spent the 2012 season playing football at B.C.’s Simon Fraser University before leaving because he couldn’t afford to stay there.
The defensive lineman then worked odd jobs before saving up enough to attend Kansas’s Fort Hays State University. Once there, he earned a scholarship and played well enough over 36 games from 2015–17 to get noticed by NFL scouts.
After a meteoric rise, he got picked up by the New York Jets in the third round of the 2018 NFL Draft, and has been playing for the green and white ever since.
Tevaughn Campbell
Team: Los Angeles Chargers
Position: Cornerback
Status: Injured Reserve
Hometown: Scarborough
If there’s a common thread in these players, it’s well-roundedness.
On top of being a pro football player, the 29-year-old Campbell is also an accomplished sprinter and appeared in multiple games with Canada’s national rugby sevens team after picking up the sport relatively late in life.
.@TevaughnsC didn’t wait long to make an impact in his first #Rugby7s tournament for @RugbyCanada! 🇨🇦🏉 #RC7s #Hamilton7s @CFL 🏃🏿♂️💨💨 pic.twitter.com/JOgKqi1FtR
— Rugby Canada (@RugbyCanada) February 3, 2018
The Scarborough native is also an oddity on NFL rosters in that he arrived through a universally Canadian path. He played CIS football for the Regina Rams between 2011 and 2014, then played 42 games with three teams over four seasons in the CFL.
Now he suits up on the same team as fellow GTAer Palmer, though he started the season on the injured reserve due to a knee injury.
N’Keal Harry
Team: Chicago Bears
Position: Wide receiver
Status: Injured Reserve
Hometown: Toronto
Harry was born in Toronto and moved to St. Vincent and the Grenadines at a young age, then picked up football after moving again to Phoenix.
He played college football at Arizona State, then landed in a dream situation for a young wide receiver — he got drafted by the New England Patriots in the first round of the 2019 draft, which meant he got to start his career catching passes from Tom Brady.
That said, his time with the Patriots didn’t quite go as planned. He missed the first half of his rookie season with an ankle injury, and ended up starting only five games. He appeared in 26 games over the next two seasons — after Brady left for Tampa — and is now looking for a second chance with the Bears.
Nikola Kalinic
Team: Indianapolis Colts
Position: Tight End
Status: Practice Squad
Hometown: Toronto
The now 25-year-old Kalinic went to Etobicoke’s Silverthorn Collegiate Institute before playing football for the York Lions from 2015 through 2018.
The tight end then got drafted by the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in the second round of the 2019 CFL Draft, and played two seasons there (missing the 2020 season along with the rest of the league due to the COVID-19 pandemic).
Kalinic garnered attention from the NFL, and signed with the Indianapolis Colts after the completion of the 2021 season. He spent training camp with the team before getting cut and added to the practice roster.
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