From homelessness in London to the Dallas Cowboys:Efe Obada's remarkable journey

[polychronopolous]

Efe Obada, who has been plucked from his job as a security guard in southern England to sign for the Dallas Cowboys, has described his move as a “dream”.

Obada’s move is an extraordinary one. He was separated from his mother and trafficked into England at the age of 10 before being left homeless on the streets of London – he had also never played American football until last year.

“It’s amazing and life-changing. It’s a major turning point in my life and feels like a movie,” he told NFL UK. “This could be it – I can change my life. This is unreal – this doesn’t happen to people like me. I’ve never even been outside of London since I arrived in the UK.”

Before he was signed by the Cowboys, Obada was working as a security guard in Welwyn Garden City, starting shifts at 6am and playing for the London Warriors in his spare time. The Warriors defensive coordinator, Aden Durde, had worked as an intern for the Cowboys last summer and spotted the 6ft 6in, 255lb Obada’s potential.

After his arrival in England Obada eventually found a home through contacts of his mother but he had a tough upbringing and saw three of his friends murdered. “[Me and my sister] were home-hopping and living with strangers,” Obada told NFL UK. “When you haven’t got stability, you don’t trust people – you know where you’re living is not permanent and it’s not real and you feel they’re just getting paid to look after you. You develop trust issues and you develop your own little demons. It’s not a nice feeling to not be wanted and to not have that security and stability.


“It made me angry. I developed a lot of anger. It made me a negative and pessimistic person. I didn’t really believe in myself and because I never had that family stability it led me to turn to friends in the area and that led me into gangs and running with the wrong people.”

Obada faces an uphill struggle to make the Cowboys. He will initially attend their mini-camps in May in the hope of making their roster. The 22-year-old will play at either tight end or defensive end but his lack of experience will count against him, despite the make that his 40-yard dash time of 4.63 seconds would have put him at second among tight ends at this year’s NFL Combine. His best hope is to make the Cowboys practice squad, where he can learn the fundamentals of the game.

His journey would not be unique: the Cowboys already have one player from England on their books: defensive end Jack Crawford, although he played college football before starting his pro career. Lawrence Okoye, who represented Great Britain in the discus at the London Olympics, is currently on the San Francisco 49ers practice squad after deciding to swap sports.

For now, Obada’s aim is simple. “I just want to make the team,” he said. “And then I want to get my first Super Bowl ring. I believe I can do it and I’m working hard. This is not something that has just been handed to me. I’m waking up at 6am every day and putting my body through a lot, I’m taking on criticism, I’m trying to get better and I’m trying to stay focused and motivated.

“I’ve spent a lot of time and money investing in myself. You’ve got to reach for the stars and that’s what I’m going to do. I believe I can achieve anything that I put my mind to. I can change my life and other people’s lives and help inspire people. I can be the person I believed I could be.”

[Pork_Chop]

Lucky guy.

Although it always ends in tears when someone goes from being a complete deadbeat to having pots of money.

[polychronopolous]

Lucky guy.

Although it always ends in tears when someone goes from being a complete deadbeat to having pots of money.

He has a freaky combination of size and athleticism for defensive end, that's why the Cowboys made a move to sign him. A low 4.6 for a man of that size is really spectacular. I think I remember hearing that his broad jump would put him right at the top of defensive ends as well.

The trouble is he's only played a handful of games his entire life and will be completely clueless come training camp!

IF, and it is a big IF, this guy pans out we could be looking at a movie coming out about him. It's just that kind of story.

It seems like that guy is motivated to work his ass off, so that is certainly a positive.