ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — The Buffalo Bills agreed to terms Wednesday with Nigerian-born defensive end Efe Obada on a one-year contract.
The 28-year-old joins the Bills after spending his first three NFL seasons with the Carolina Panthers. He is listed at 6-foot-6 and 265 pounds and is coming off a year in which he had a career-best 5 1/2 sacks in 16 games, including one start.
Overall, Obada has 7 1/2 sacks in 42 games with the Panthers.
Obada overcame a challenging upbringing and no formal football background to become the first NFL player to make a 53-man roster out of the league’s International Player Pathway Program.
Born in Nigeria, Obada moved to the Netherlands before relocating to England, where he was brought up in foster care. He worked as a part-time security guard and took up football playing for the London Warriors of the British American Football Association as a defensive end and tight end.
He had brief stints with Dallas, Kansas City and Atlanta before entering the the pathway program and being assigned to the Panthers in 2017.
In Buffalo, he’ll have the opportunity to compete for a backup spot after the Bills didn’t re-sign Trent Murphy.
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