Seydou Traore, a tight end from Mississippi State, was drafted by the Miami Dolphins in the fifth round of the NFL draft. His journey began in London, where he worked at NFL games, fueling his dream of playing professionally.
Key points
Seydou Traore was drafted by the Miami Dolphins.
He is a tight end from Mississippi State.
Traore worked at NFL games in London as a child.
He walked across the draft stage with the UK flag.
The Dolphins often play international games.
Mentioned in this story
London
Seydou TraoreMiami DolphinsNFL Draft 2023
When Seydou Traore was a child in London, he worked at the NFLâs annual international games at Wembley Stadium and Tottenham Hotspur Stadium handing out stat sheets.
Some of those initial aspirations of playing American football professionally may have been sparked through his presence at those installments of the leagueâs international series.
The Miami Dolphins made those dreams for Traore, the Mississippi State tight end, come true with their fifth-round selection of him during the NFL draft Saturday.
He had his moment to be highlighted with the United Kingdom flag draped over his shoulders as he walked across the stage given a Dolphins hat and greeted by commissioner Roger Goodell in Pittsburgh.
With the Dolphins a popular NFL choice to play international games, Traoreâs dreams could come full circle if, one season, heâs playing on the field back in one of those London venues.
âFor me to flip that around on its head and now Iâm on the field and people watching me, it would be amazing,â Traore said in a Monday afternoon web conference with reporters two days after getting drafted.
âIt would mean a bunch. I mean, to come home, play in front of home, play in front of â not my people â but people that have someone to say, âThis person came from London, came from Englandâ and just to have that backing and that support and be in the stadium.â
Traoreâs intrigue in the sport was originally sparked by watching UK programming on American football across the pond. He started working the NFLâs London games and eventually ended up in NFL Academy, the leagueâs initiative of football training for youngsters overseas.
âImagine taking all the best athletes from various sports, rugby, basketball, track, wherever, and then getting them all for a trial,â Traore explained of NFL Academy. âFrom that trial, shrinking it again to another trial, and then taking those guys, putting them on a team, and then teaching them the game of football to give them the best shot going to D-I.â
After that, those international prospects room at the academy, receive education there and even travel to play against American high schools.
Traore felt like a natural playing American football.
âI always say that a lot of the sports I played growing up gave me kind of like natural abilities, like me being a goalkeeper in football â or soccer â kind of gave me natural hand-eye coordination. I feel like I transferred a lot of stuff,â he said.
His senior year of high school was when the world stopped during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. He didnât have any college football scholarship offers at the time, so his journey brought him to Florida, where football was still being played.
A lone season playing 11-on-11 football at Clearwater Academy for the first time (he played 9-on-9 overseas) got him into college football.
âComing to Clearwater, my mindset was really just to come in and dominate,â Traore said. âSo, I wasnât really thinking too much about like, âOh, this is different.â It was just, âListen, Iâm here for a few months. I know what the goal is to get out of here.â I came in with a mindset to dominate.â
The college journey began at Arkansas State. By his sophomore year in 2022, he was first-team All-Sun Belt Conference and an honorable mention as an All-American who had 50 receptions for 655 yards and four touchdowns that season.
That allowed him to step up the competition level and play in the SEC at Mississippi State. The past two seasons with the Bulldogs, he surpassed 360 receiving yards and, as a senior in 2025, he used his 6-foot-4, 235-pound frame to haul in five touchdown passes.
Traore comes to the Dolphins with an opportunity to develop and maybe even contribute in the tight end room. Miami returned Greg Dulcich on a one-year free-agent contract after a receiving surge the second half of last season. It also signed in-line blocker Ben Sims in free agency and drafted physical Ohio State tight end Will Kacmarek in the third round.
The Dolphins are allowed an extra player on their offseason roster, for 91 total, because Traore comes by way of the international program. If he doesnât make a spot on the teamâs 53-player active roster come August, he can be kept on the practice squad as an extra player to the maximum of 16.
Traore called it a blur when he was drafted and then came across the stage in Pittsburgh.
The Dolphins will give him more opportunities to create memories now that heâll embark on his professional journey in Miami.
As far as playing in London, the Dolphins, with an emphasis on establishing an international brand, have visited five times, the last being in 2021. Since, Miami has played in Frankfurt, Germany in 2023 and Madrid, Spain last season. Itâs possible the Dolphinsâ road game against the San Francisco 49ers next fall is played in Mexico City.
