One of the most positive and incredible stories last preseason and training camp was the emergence of Sam Eguavoen. I’m going to be completely honest, I didn’t know who this guy was when he became a Dolphin, but then again, why would I?
However, that preseason his performances put his name into many journalists and football fans’ words, and they are spreading ‘the word’ about his presence, as a football player. So that leaves many to wonder, who is Sam Eguavoen?
It’s not often a player comes out of the CFL and has an NFL career. But one name does spring to mind, Mr. Cameron Wake. Both Wake and Sam Eguavoen have something in common, they both killed it in the CFL, after going through a tough patch.
But Sam had it worse, unlike Wake, who became a UDFA of the New York Giants. Eguavoen didn’t even sign for a team.
The former Texas Tech Red Raider went undrafted in 2015, and spent the rest of the year out of football, working in Dallas for Footaction, which is a company of FootLocker. Eguavoen majored in Sociology and Criminology, which when realising his football days were over caused him to sign up for the Dallas PD. He quickly gathered it wasn’t for him, however, and in January 2016 was looking for something else to do.
What was next for Eguavoen?
Eguavoen then decided to go to CFL tryouts. He was so desperate to get back into Football that he went to work out for the first team that got in contact. In came the Saskatchewan Roughriders, I know that’s an impressive name!
He impressed the coaches in Saskatchewan, and shortly after was invited to minicamp. Minicamp turned into training camp, and soon he was starting in the CFL.
In Sam’s first year in Canada, he only played six games before tearing his MCL. And was out for the season. At this point, Eguavoen was seriously considering just giving up and when talking on the Audible, one of the Dolphins official podcasts, he stated it was his teammates and coaches in the locker room that kept him going.
Another year came around and his second year was just up and down, he got hurt, with a minor ankle injury coming into the season, and knew he had to seriously knuckle down in Year 3.
And knuckle down he did, the linebacker ignored the 2018 NFL season to be fully focused on the season in Canada. Eguavoen added “I fully locked into the CFL, that I didn’t know what was going on in the outside world.”
After an incredible year, where he posted 81 tackles, 3 sacks, 1 pick, 2 TD’s, and 2 Forced Fumbles, Eguaveon was let go by the Roughriders to pursue NFL opportunities.
Miami was the first place he visited, where he got close to Chris Grier. Resulting in him being a Dolphin today. And what a preseason he had!
Against Tampa Bay. Eguavoen finished the game with seven tackles, including two for a loss and a forced fumble. He then backed that up with 1 hurry, 3 tackles, and a run stop against Jacksonville.
Moving into the 2019 regular season, Eguavoen played a part in all 16 games and surprisingly placed second in sacks, behind Taco Charlton. His total of 3.5 beat out the likes of Vince Biegel, Christian Wilkins, and Jerome Baker. He recorded 42 tackles in 2019, 7 for a loss, the highest on the team.
Standout games include the wins against Philadelphia and Cincinnati in the latter half of the season. In the Eagles game, Egauvoen earned a 72.9 PFF Total Defense grade and went for two sacks and a hurry against Carson Wentz and his o-line.
As for the Bengals Week 16 affair, he recorded 82.7 Total Defense grade and an 83.8 pass-rush grade. Eguavoen pressured Andy Dalton 4 times in 48 snaps. Finally, Eguavoen also recovered a fumble in Week 17 against the New England Patriots.
So there you go, a little dive into the story of Dolphins linebacker Sam Eguavoen. For more like this, you can visit our profiles section or our opinion section. Also, follow us on Facebook and Twitter for news, views, competitions, and much more.