Efe Obada Focusing on Football After Making Panthers Roster
Defensive end Efe Obada is not taking anything for granted after making the Carolina Panthers 53 man roster.
Efe Obada (26), has taken an unconventional path toward NFL success. He is the first player from the NFL’s International Pathway program to make a final roster. He has done this after moving from Nigeria, via human traffickers, to the United Kingdom, where he was left homeless.
“It instilled a hunger in me that I have to this day and I feel I can apply in the game,” Obada said Tuesday. “It’s kind of going through a state of survival.
“So what I do today I don’t take anything for granted. I don’t take this opportunity for granted because it doesn’t come so easily.”
Want $250 to bet on NFL futures?
As fate would have it, the Carolina Panthers start the season against the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday. The Dallas Cowboys are the team that first discovered Efe Obada.
The 6-foot-6, 266 pound Obada signed with Dallas in 2015, having never played high school or college football. After the Cowboys practice squad, he had spells in Kansas City and Atlanta. He then moved to the Panthers under the international program last year.
Due to a roster exemption, Obada spent all of 2017 in the Carolina Panthers practice squad. It appears his time has finally come.
He beat the likes of Daeshon Hall for a place on the Panthers 53 man roster, proving his merit. Hall was a 2017 third round pick out of Texas A&M.
Read: 5 NFL Over Bets to Hit Hard in 2018
However, Obada played down his personal story in favor of focussing on his game.
“I’ll be honest with you,” Obada said. “What happened to me is something that has happened across the world, it’s happened to a lot of people. I’m just blessed to have the opportunity I’m in right now. I just want to focus on football.
“Eventually down the line when everything is settled and I’ve established myself in the league, then I’ll go into that. I’ll go into my background. I’ll go into my history.”
