As if we needed another chapter in the Hollywood story of Panthers defensive end Efe Obada, the NFL provided one Wednesday as they named the 26-year old, who was playing in his first NFL game only four years removed from playing organized football for the first time, the NFC Defensive Player of the Week award for his performance against the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 3.
Obada racked up an interception, a sack, two quarterback hurries, a pass deflection and a game ball from Head Coach Ron Rivera and was inches away from a strip-sack in the second quarter that was ultimately overturned and deemed an incomplete pass after replay review; Obada, the first player to make an NFL 53-man roster from the International Pathways Program, becomes the first Panthers player to win a weekly award this season – it’s the sixth weekly honor for a Panthers defensive lineman since 2013.
The entire Panthers defense, which is working under it’s third defensive coordinator in three years – the last two were hired to be head coaches, has earned 13 player of the week awards since 2013, the most among NFL defenses.
Obada’s story has been told in multiple outlets, but the 6-5 defensive end who was born in Nigeria, came to America from London in 2015 to be on the Dallas Cowboys’ practice squad after playing with the London Warriors; he spent time on the Kansas City Chiefs and Atlanta Falcons practice squads before being assigned to the Panthers via the Pathways Program.
Obada was able to secure the award in only 19 snaps of action on Sunday – an even more impressive feat.
To hear more from Obada and his incredible story, check out our interview with him on the It Is What It Is podcast in which we discussed his transition to America, how he is helping to spread the NFL love around the world and much, much more.
