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Matt Leo will have a decisive advantage over NFL Pathway program graduates Valentine Holmes and Jordan Mailata after three years playing for Iowa State.

A hulking Adelaide plumber will tread the same path as Valentine Holmes and Jordan Mailata in a bid to break into the NFL.

The NFL announced on Wednesday that 201cm tall, 125kg Matt Leo was selected to take part in this year's NFL International Player Pathway program.

Leo, 27, a former plumber and rugby player will have a significant advantage over NRL star Holmes and super-sized 203cm tall, 157kg Mailata.

Leo has spent the past three years as a defensive end at Iowa State while Holmes and Mailata did not play a game of American football before entering the NFL.

The NFL announced Leo and nine other athletes from China, Mexico, Germany, Brazil, Finland, Austria, Poland and Norway will enter this year's Pathway program and compete for a spot on an NFL team.

"The International Player Pathway program is an important part of our ongoing efforts to grow the game globally and provide pathways for international players to make it to the NFL," Damani Leech, NFL Chief Operating Officer of International, said.

They will begin training in the US next month and will have the opportunity to showcase their talents to NFL club scouts in March in hopes of being signed as a free agent or being selected for a practice squad position.

The Pathway program led Holmes to the New York Jets' practice squad last year but he was unable to break into the team's 53-man squad and is back in the NRL playing for the North Queensland Cowboys.

Mailata showed so much potential the Philadelphia Eagles selected him in the 2018 draft but the former South Sydney Rabbitohs Junior is yet to play a regular season game.