Efe Obada needs to maintain taking part in within the NFL “until the wheels fall off”. Final November, he feared that day had come.
Whereas taking part in for the Washington Commanders, the British defensive finish was one among three gamers bearing down on the opposition quarterback.
The Commanders managed to finish the sack however, as many of the group celebrated, Obada lay on the turf in agony.
Within the melee, he had collided with a team-mate. He regarded right down to see his proper leg pointing within the fallacious route.
“It was [horrific],” he tells BBC Sport. “Whereas I used to be getting carted off and I used to be going to hospital, I used to be pondering: ‘OK, my leg is dealing with a unique method. What does this imply?’
“I simply did not know what was occurring with my physique – what the analysis was going to be, how lengthy it’d take [to recover], whether or not I might be the identical.”
Obada had suffered a number of fractures to his decrease leg and had surgical procedure that night.
And as he contemplated his future, he acquired some smart phrases from two-time Tremendous Bowl winner Osi Umenyiora, who continues to behave as a mentor having helped Obada earn a shot on the NFL by the league’s worldwide participant pathway (IPP) in 2017.
“Lots of people had been reaching out, wishing me nicely, and I spoke to Osi,” provides Obada. “He advised me about his accidents and the way he was capable of come again. A few of his team-mates and one among our offensive linemen have had comparable accidents and gone on to play for years.
“So that allow me know that if I put within the work and keep true to the rehab programme, I’ll have the ability to come again. I believe the doubt solely lasted a day or two. Since then it has been ‘that is the place I’m at, let’s get it’.”