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Long Efe Obada story from Tyler Dunne


BubbaT

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It’s an amazing article.  You really should read it!


Key Points:

 

Obada was born in Nigeria.  His mother got scammed by smuggler who snuck them into London illegally and couldn’t join them when her visa fell through.
 

He grew up in terrible foster homes having to take care of his sister on $44 per week from social services.

 

He eventually joined a gang to get money to survive and implied that they robbed and stole.

 

Eventually he moved out of the city with his now wife and met someone who was involved with an American football league in the Uk.  Despite never plying before he joined the team and  played about 5 games before someone on the team got him a tryout with Dallas when they played in London.  
 

He was signed with Dallas and bounced around from practice squad to practice squad for a few years.  
 

Signed with Carolina largely because of the security the NFL international pathways program.  He developed his skills under Eric Washington, despite the fact they were always drafting and bringing in other DE’s.


After his breakout 5.5 sack season, he didn’t get the big offers he expected but did have many options for one-year deals.  He chose Buffalo because of Washington and because he “knows” he’s the missing piece for them to get to a Super Bowl.  
 

The recap doesn’t do the article justice but if you like Obada, you’ll love the write up

Edited by JohnNord
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It's an amazing story but I don't think the word "amazing" even does it justice.  I feel ashamed for predicting the Bills would trade Efe instead of Bam; if I had read this before I would not have made the same prediction.

 

Who knows how Efe's drive and desire will translate on the field this season, but he has earned himself the respect and admiration of this fan.

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2 minutes ago, eball said:

It's an amazing story but I don't think the word "amazing" even does it justice.  I feel ashamed for predicting the Bills would trade Efe instead of Bam; if I had read this before I would not have made the same prediction.

 

Who knows how Efe's drive and desire will translate on the field this season, but he has earned himself the respect and admiration of this fan.

It’s remarkable how he finds a way to overcome situations including in Buffalo.  He was an afterthought on a loaded DL when the team drafted Rosseau and Boogie but he earned a spot and even forced the team to trade one of their better ST players in Johnson.  
 

hard player not to pull for

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46 minutes ago, JESSEFEFFER said:

Tyler Dunne is a good writer.  In 9 days, when it's 3rd down and the crowd gets extra loud to help the defense make a play, we should all cheer extra loud if it's Efe who made it.  Because making that play will be extra important to him.

I sure hope the people in my stinkin' seats do just that.  Stupid closed border....

Great story BTW.  If he gets the sacks, he will have a forever home.

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11 minutes ago, TailgateChef said:

I sure hope the people in my stinkin' seats do just that.  Stupid closed border....

Great story BTW.  If he gets the sacks, he will have a forever home.

 

That closed border is stupid.  Much respect for our Candian Mafiosi.  Did you give back all your tickets or just on a game by game basis?

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I hope Efe gets all the love and support from Bills fans that he deserves, and finally finds a permanent place to call home, and I express that opinion before he even plays a down for us in the regular season. Successful in football or not, he is a star in my book just for surviving his early life, and coming through that with the positive attitude that he has. Good luck to you Efe I hope you become the special player that you have worked so hard to be, and of course Go Bills.

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Great story. Theres a quick video of him at the end, and the story was spot on. Infectious smile, but clearly a dude that's grateful to have this chance.

 

That said, early training camp he sounded like a monster, and the narrative kinda shifted to him stalling out mid camp. Anybody hear anything how he's been doing the last 2-3 weeks at practice??

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Someone else posted a similar story on Efe this summer.  It’s a great story.  I wouldn’t doubt this becomes a human interest story during the game if he gets good playing time.

 

Beane really shows up with what they preach and how they upgraded the D Line.  I don’t see this team going backwards anytime soon.

 

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2 hours ago, RoyBatty is alive said:

Amazing story, impossible not to root for Efe.

 

You take his attitude, lack of football experience and his physical characteristics, then look at his productivity last year, incredible we didnt try and lock him up long term,

After Addison and Jerry are gone we will lock him up. When everyone was talking about our 3 young DE's, it was Efe who I wanted to see. I hope he establishes a special place in Buffalo....

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LA, I was thinking the same.  This year, Hughes and Addision counts around $17.7 mil. against the cap, but Hughes is a free agent and Addison will only count $2 mil. against the cap and we can absorb that one.  We should have $ fir Obada if he does as well as we think he might.  We still have a couple of years before we need to lay Epenesa if he does well these next couple of years.

 

Is it next Sunday yet?

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