Dieter Eiselen (G)

Dieter Eiselen is a South African-born offensive lineman who carved out a notable NFL journeyman career after an unusual path from South African rugby and weightlifting to American college football. No reliable public net worth figure exists for him, so none is stated here.

Early Life & Family

Dieter Johann Eiselen was born on June 10, 1996, in Pretoria, South Africa. Growing up, he was an accomplished rugby player and competitive weightlifter with Olympic aspirations, and was largely unfamiliar with American football until around age 16, when a 2012 Notre Dame-Stanford broadcast sparked his interest in the sport.

Rise to Fame

Eiselen moved to the United States to pursue American football and enrolled at Yale University, where he played from 2016 to 2019. He started 33 games for the Bulldogs, helped Yale to two Ivy League championships, and earned First-team FCS All-American honors and two First-team All-Ivy League selections in 2019.

Career History

Eiselen went undrafted in the 2020 NFL Draft and signed with the Chicago Bears, where he became recognized as the first South African non-kicker to be active in an NFL game as a rookie. He spent three seasons with the Bears (2020-2022), then moved to the Houston Texans (2023-2024), followed by practice-squad spells with the Denver Broncos and San Francisco 49ers in 2024, and finally the Jacksonville Jaguars (2024-2025), who waived him in March 2025.

How They Built Their Wealth

Eiselen’s income has come from a series of NFL contracts as an undrafted free agent and practice-squad/roster player across five franchises. NFL salaries at this level are typically close to the league minimum, and no verified net worth figure has been published for him.

Dieter Eiselen’s path from a rugby field in Pretoria to NFL rosters is one of the more unusual stories in American football, though no reliable net worth figure for him is publicly documented.