The Cincinnati Bengals are beginning to wrap up meetings with NFL Draft prospects this week, but not before they host one of the draft's most interesting players.
Bayron Matos, a former college basketball player who's never played in a football game, is meeting with the Bengals Tuesday.
Matos hails from the Dominican Republic where he grew up playing baseball as a pitcher. He eventually became a 3-star basketball recruit and originally committed to Mississippi State before changing to New Mexico.
After redshirting for a year, Matos played one season for the Lobos before transferring to South Florida for the 2021 season. He logged just over 10 minutes a game in 28 games played for the Bulls.
It wasn't until 2022 that he decided to give football a try. He walked onto USF's team after never putting on a helmet before and spent the next two years on the team.
Matos can be the next NFL international success story
Matos had trained with the NFL’s International Player Program (IPP) this offseason as one of 16 athletes in an effort to get ready for the NFL Draft. Having zero in-game football experience would make him a total outlier to be drafted, but he's athletic enough to turn some heads.
According to The Athletic's Dane Brugler, Matos ran a 4.9 40-yard dash, jumped 28" and 113", respectively, on the vertical jump and broad jump, and posted times of 4.77 and 7.64, respectively, in the short shuttle and 3-cone drill. He did this after measuring in at 6-7 and 313 pounds with 35.25" arms.
Matos is certainly built like an offensive tackle and moves amazingly for one as well. He can potentially become an IPP success story like Efe Obada, Jordan Mailata, and Jakob Johnson. All three have recorded over 1,000 career NFL snaps.
Per NFL operations, this is how an IPP athlete can be integrated onto an NFL roster this year:
After training camp, the group of 16 IPP athletes will be eligible to fill a 17th practice squad roster spot across any of the 32 teams — an additional spot reserved for an international player — following the rule change beginning with the 2024 season applicable to athletes outside of the United States and Canada.
Cincinnati meeting with Matos is ultimately a chance to start a relationship that can result in a practice squad spot this season. He's not ready to play in a game anytime soon, but he's an impressive athlete looking to make it in his third sport.
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