Former Army offensive lineman Brett Toth has hopes of playing in the NFL, but he is currently waiting for a waiver that would allow him to play for the Philadelphia Eagles. According to Adam Schefter, Toth fulfilled his first year of active military service but is poised to sign with the Eagles. Although this move will not happen without the Army’s consent.
If the waiver goes through, Toth will be able to sign his contract with the Eagles and compete for a spot on the team. Although this will be a fairly difficult process considering that he has been out of football for a year. He originally graduated as a nuclear engineer in May 2018 and is a second lieutenant. Following his graduation, Toth became the first person from West Point to play in the Senior Bowl. He drew attention from multiple NFL teams, per ESPN, but the Eagles are first in line to sign him to a contract, provided the Army cooperates.
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Why this contract is even is a possibility is actually due to President Trump signing a presidential memorandum in June that ordered the Pentagon to make a significant change to existing policies. Under his direction, the players from military academies would be able to play professional sports after graduation and defer their service obligation.
Back in January, Toth spoke with USA Today and explained that he hadn’t initially viewed the NFL as a realistic possibility. However, President Trump changed everything and made it slightly more likely that he would be able to suit up for a professional team.
“The NFL dream waits until my service is done,” Toth said. “You have that dream ever since you started playing ball, or even being young and in the backyard playing ball. But again, being at West Point, initially thought it was going to be five years (of military service), for me at least. Going in, I didn’t think (the NFL) was going to be something for me. But now, under the current administration, the requirement is two years, so it looks like I might be doing both.”
While his NFL dream hasn’t faded quite yet, it also hasn’t come to pass either. There are still some hurdles in Toth’s way, most notably the Army, but he hasn’t given up hope just yet. He saw the success of Steelers offensive tackle Alejandro Villanueva, who became a Pro Bowl player after three tours in Afghanistan, and believes that he could follow this path. Although he will have some work to do in order to improve as a pass protector. Army’s football team was better known for running the ball than throwing passes, as evidenced by only 65 pass attempts as opposed to nearly 800 rushing attempts.
