Super Bowl LVIII: Can a Canadian lift the Lombardi Trophy?

All NFL franchises are back from their break and are now in full training camp mode ahead of the preseason games which start in August. While the regular season does not get underway until September 8, there is plenty to look forward to over the four weeks of the preseason games with matches priced up at some of the best betting sites in Canada. 

32 teams will all dream of lifting the Vince Lombardi Trophy at Super Bowl LVIII, played in Las Vegas on February 11. 16 Canadians have won a Super Bowl so far, what are the chances of a Canadian player being on the Super Bowl-winning side this season? 

We look at 10 of the top Canadian players in the NFL and their hopes for a win in Las Vegas at the end of the season. Those hopes are reflected in the price of their respective teams to land the Lombardi Trophy. If you are looking for a Vegas-style win at home then check out the best jackpot casinos out there.

Born in Abbotsford, British Columbia, the 25yo is yet to back up the sensational rookie campaign he enjoyed in 2020 as a Pittsburgh Steeler. 873 receiving yards, nine receiving touchdowns plus two rushing TD’s were excellent numbers. 2021 saw similar yardage as a Steeler but only two total TD’s.

A move to the Bears came last season but Claypool is yet to make any significant impact on the scoresheet in the Windy City. The talent is unquestionably still there and the motivation is that this is a contract year for him. A repeat of 2020 and he will get paid big in 2024, a repeat of 2022 and he might struggle to make a roster.

The Bears were a poor 3-14 in the NFC North last season and with the Detroit Lions looking improved and the Minnesota Vikings dominant in 2022, the Bears look set to bring up the rear in their division again.

Speaking of the much-improved Lions, they had the hugely experienced defensive tackle Covington sign in May. The Vancouver native has spent some time moving around the league, the Lions his 6th franchise having entered the league in 2015. Hamilton Tiger-Cats fans will remember his dad Grover Covington who is the all-time CFL leader in sacks.

Injuries cost Covington time in 2022 having not missed a game from 2019-2021. That 2021 season saw him produce a career-high in tackles with 52. Only two years removed from that, Covington could be set for a bounce-back year.

In 2022 the Lions finished over .500 for the first time since 2017. The year prior to that was the last time that they have been seen in the playoffs, losing a Wild Card game at the Seattle Seahawks. The Lions are a sleeper team for many in 2023 but success will require a more robust D-side of the ball than in 2022.

Gallimore hails from Ottawa, the first Canadian ever to be invited to play in the U.S. Army All-American Bowl. The defensive tackle set career-high marks in tackles in 2022, a fair figure of 32 for a man who only started a single game during the season.

There is more competition for his spot in the 2023 Cowboys team so Gallimore will need to impress in the early weeks to gain as much playing time as he can. However many snaps he is on the field for, he will play his role to his best ability.

‘America’s Team’ has not been to a Super Bowl since 1995 and only to the playoffs in five of the last 13 seasons. They have been towards the top of the rankings on both sides of the ball in the last few seasons but are yet to take that level into the postseason. Will this be the year?

Things could hardly have started better for the Oakfield-born player, a Super Bowl champion in his rookie season. The 2022 Rams had little go right for them but Hoecht established himself in the side with 23 tackles as well as 4.5 sacks.

Those sacks all came in the last six games of the season so it is fair to say that he really grew into his role. The 25yo should be heading towards the peak of his career at his age and in his 3rd season, could improve on his career-best figures.

It is hard to know what to expect of the Rams in 2023. They have had two trips to the Super Bowl in the last five seasons but they have also had a couple of poor years and last season, although there were excuses, was a flat campaign. 

The free safety from BC had a great 2022. 77 tackles across the 17 games as well as a pair of picks and 1.5 sacks was a great return from a player in his sophomore season. He led the team in interceptions while 96 combined tackles were good enough for 4th on the team.

Holland is only 23 so there should be better to come from him as he matures, the Dolphins are looking to have got themselves a steal with the 36th overall pick. He was the first safety picked in the draft and he is living up to that level so far.

The Dolphins season came unstuck down the stretch in 2022 but they pushed the Buffalo Bills hard through the first 12 games of the campaign. It was only the Dolphin’s third trip to the postseason in 21 years, losing in Wildcard week in all three. They have the potential for better this year.

Born in Edmonton, Hubbard came to prominence with a huge 2019 at Oklahoma State, rushing for over 2000 yards and scoring 21 TD’s. That earned him the Jon Cornish Trophy as the top Canadian player in the NCAA that year.

It took a while in 2022 for him to get much playing time and then when the opportunity came, he picked up an ankle injury. Things improved down the stretch but it was too late to put up numbers similar to those he had in his 2021 rookie season.

The Panthers have endured five losing seasons in a row, with a revolving door at quarterback on a yearly basis. Teams in the NFC South were not strong last season so the Panthers picked up seven wins but that might be as good as they can hope for again this season.

The 23yo wide receiver from Brampton, Ontario has had a pair of successful seasons so far with the Chargers. 105 receptions for 1122 yards over the two years, he has scored seven TD’s. 2022 saw him more trusted in the receiving game so it looks likely that in 2023 he will find himself with a bigger target total again.

Three times in the 2022 season, he picked up 99 yards receiving or more, reaching 106 twice which is his career high. Justin Herbert is really growing into his role as the Chargers quarterback which gives Palmer a great opportunity to grow alongside him. 

Just a second trip to the playoffs in the last nine seasons for the Chargers in 2022 saw them make it no further than the wildcard game. They are the epitome of middle-of-the-road, the franchise’s overall record standing at 478-477-11 at the start of this season.

Five years a New York Jet, the Ajax native has found himself in new surroundings for 2023 with the New Orleans Saints. Shepherd never got much of a chance to start for the Jets, just 12 starts in five seasons playing with the franchise. 

16 tackles and 17 assists last season along with 1.5 sacks are fair stats for a player who got plenty of snaps despite the lack of starts. New surroundings might be just what he needs to get things flowing in the right direction again. One thing the Saints are in desperate need of is a stronger D-Line so this has potential as a move.

2022 was the worst season for the Saints since 2016. Dennis Allen’s first season as head coach was not the way that he would have wanted things to go but he knows the franchise well as their defensive coordinator for a long time before that. If Shepherd is the first step to an improvement on that side of the ball, it could be an interesting season.

The Montreal-born cornerback played at Michigan under Jim Harbaugh for a couple of years before injury curtailed his time there. He joined the Minnesota Golden Gophers for another two years before heading into the NFL.

His time for the Commanders has been limited in two seasons, appearing in 21 games so far. Despite that, he has made 57 tackles in those injury-shortened campaigns. The quality level is there for him to make it in the NFL but he needs an injury-free run at things. 

The Commanders’ 8-8-1 record in 2022 was the best that they have accomplished since 2016. In a division with the Philadelphia Eagles and the Dallas Cowboys, however, they are going to have a tough time trying to better that in 2023.

The Mississauga-born player is on his second go around with the Ravens having been drafted by them initially in the 4th round. Injuries played a big part in him going that low and they have continued to plague the career of the 32yo ever since.

While Urban did not make a start for the Ravens in 2022, he managed to get playing time in 16 games so was still able to make a contribution to the team overall. Back up to Calais Campbell last season, that player has now joined the Atlanta Falcons so it will be interesting to see if Urban can make more of an impact in 2023.

The Ravens have made the playoffs in 10 of the 15 years that John Harbaugh has been head coach. They include four of the last five years so the team will be hopeful that they are at least going to be capable of heading back into the postseason once more in 2023.

The original question we started with was will any Canadian player be able to get their hands on the Lombardi Trophy by winning Super Bowl LVII? Of the 10 players that we have discussed above, there are no more than a few that are going to have a realistic chance of accomplishing this feat.

The primary of those would be Neville Gallimore. The Cowboys are yet to take their solid regular season showings into the playoffs but they have been knocking on the door for a long time now. It’s a difficult division with the Philadelphia Eagles in there as well but they should make the playoffs at the very least. 

Jevon Holland will be hoping that the Miami Dolphins will make it back into the playoffs again this season. They have the Buffalo Bills as their main rivals to the crown in their division but they may well have had the measure of that team last season if not for unfortunate injuries down the stretch.

The Detroit Lions are well-touted up in some quarters to make another step of improvement this year.  The 2022 season was their best for quite some time and in a division where the Green Bay Packers are heading in the wrong direction and the Chicago Bears are not competitive, they should be more than capable of heading into the postseason again.

The Rams have been horribly inconsistent in recent seasons but have made it to a pair of Super Bowls, lifting the Lombardi Trophy once. They were awful in 2022 but it would not be the biggest surprise to see them bounce back at a huge price. With talents like Matthew Stafford, Cooper Kupp, Tyler Higbee and Aaron Donald, they have the personnel to help Michael Hoecht back to another Super Bowl.