National Football League

UK amateur league player getting shot in NFL with Cowboys

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 11:33 p.m. ET

foxsports

Ask anyone on the personnel side of the NFL, and you'll hear the common refrain that talent acquisition is a 365-day-a-year job. Never has that been more apparent than after the Cowboys' most recent roster move.

The Cowboys' front office signed 22-year-old defensive end Efe Obada on Wednesday afternoon. On the surface, it's a minor blip on the league radar. Teams add players every day hoping to take a look at what they have to offer -- especially in the offseason, when NFL rosters are nearly double the size.

The story takes on added significance after a closer look. Obada, who lives in London, signed an NFL contract after a measly five games with a local amateur football club, the London Warriors. He has effectively made history as the first British player to sign an NFL contract without having played any sports at the college or professional level.

"This is a dream," Obada told NFLUK.com on Wednesday. "It's amazing and life-changing. It's a major turning point in my life and feels like a movie."

The circumstances really do sound like something out of a Hollywood script. Obada had a rough upbringing upon arriving in London from the Netherlands at 10 years old, and he currently works as a warehouse store man at Grace Foods â a grocery store in the northern suburbs of London.

"This could be it â I can change my life," Obada said. "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."

The Cowboys are currently working on travel arrangements for Obada, but the hope is to have him at the team's Valley Ranch facility in time for the start of the offseason program on April 20 -- as well as rookie minicamp in mid-May.

At 6-6, 255 pounds, it remains to be seen where Obada would line up, but he's been training at both defensive end and tight end with Aden Durde, the Warriors' defensive coordinator.

Durde brings the entire story full circle, as he spent last summer as an intern with the Cowboys coaching staff, even traveling to training camp for a stint. Roughly a year later, it's Durde's star pupil who could be making a trip to training camp â with an eye on making an active NFL roster.

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