Bayron Matos left the Dominican Republic at 16 to pursue a career as a professional basketball player, but now everything indicates that his career will be far from the courts and close to the fields.
The one born in Los Mina, Santo Domingo, is part of the NFL’s International Player Pathway Program (IPP), which aims to open the doors of the league to international athletes and, according to Tom Pelissero’s report, he has visited the Cincinnati Bengals prior to the 2024 Draft. The AFC North team has 10 selections in the next college recruiting process: 18th, 49th, 80th, 97th, 115th, 149th, 194th, 214th, 224° and 237°.
Former college basketball player Bayron Matos, who has never played in a football game, has a pre-draft visit today with the #Bengals.
Eleven other teams have sent OL coaches to work out Matos, who stands 6-7, 313 with 35 1/4-inch arms. A potential sleeper. pic.twitter.com/WA6COZG5Kj
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) April 16, 2024
The main difference between Matos, 23 years old, 2.06m and 131 kilos, with the other IPP players is that the Dominican is eligible to be drafted because he went to university and has more than four years since leaving high school.
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Byron Matos, from the staves to the gridiron
Matos grew up playing baseball and shined as a pitcher. However, he preferred the court over the diamond and therefore migrated to Tennessee at the age of 16 despite not speaking English. Thanks to basketball he got a scholarship with the New Mexico Lobos in 2019, but he only played after a redshirt season.
Two years later he transferred to the South Florida Bulls to continue playing basketball. But everything changed during 2022 as he began a new change of sport. Matos trained as a defensive end and kick blocker with the Bulls and in late September he was moved to the offensive line. However, he did not play college football.
During the 2022-23 season, the Dominican played professional basketball with the Miranda Devils of the Venezuelan Professional Basketball Super League and, according to Pro Ballersrecorded averages of 6.2 points, 5.7 rebounds and 1 assist per game after playing 29 games.
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Since joining the IPP Matos has been training at the IMG Academy in Florida with the goal of being chosen in the NFL Draft. According to multiple Draft projections, the Dominican aims to be chosen in the last rounds of the Draft since his athletic ability has made him shine.
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2024-04-16 23:12:29
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