‘IT’S STILL A FIGHT’
Work ethic keeps Eguavoen going after his four-sack preseason game
MIAMI GARDENS — Excuse Sam Eguavoen if he didn’t extend any celebration of his four-sack performance — one for a safety — in the preseason win over the Atlanta Falcons on Saturday night.
The Miami Dolphins linebacker, who joked the only other time he’s had four sacks in a game was in a dream, has had to work for every opportunity he’s gotten in the NFL. One big game — in an exhibition, at that — won’t be what triggers him to relax and feel he has arrived.
Playing three seasons in the Canadian Football League before he debuted with the Dolphins in
2019, Eguavoen has still found himself battling for a spot on the team’s 53-man regular-season roster entering his third NFL season. He knows now is not the time to let up.
“It’s still a fight. It don’t matter what you do today. It’s always — the rent is due every day,” said Eguavoen following the 37-17 win at Hard Rock Stadium where he also led the team with 11 tackles after a brief stint on the Dolphins’ reserve/COVID-19 list earlier in the week. “You can’t get lackadaisical because, oh, I got four sacks this week or I got a pick that week. There’s always somebody ready to take your spot just like when I was in Canada; I’m waiting for somebody to slip up in the NFL.
“I’m going to rejoice [Saturday night], but [Sunday], I know I’m still going to get chewed out in film for plays that I messed up on. And you just go back into practice, the next weekend and you’ve got to do it all over again. I never get complacent with anything I do.”
That mentality comes as no surprise to his coaches.
“There’s two types of people: Either you’re humble or you’re going to be,” said linebackers coach Anthony Camapnile on Monday at the Dolphins’ facility. “He’s always been a guy that’s been humble and has a lot of pride, does things the right way, so he was right back to work here the next day. … Even during the game, correcting things during the game from the first half to the second half he made improvements on.”
After Eguavoen was a standout on the 2019 defense, starting six games and finishing second on the team with 3 ½ sacks that year, he only had one start in 2020, although he played in every game. His 40 tackles in 2019 dipped down to five total last season.
The 28-year-old who played his college ball at Texas Tech before playing for the CFL’s Saskatchewan Roughriders was probably an on-the-bubble defender to make Miami’s 53-man roster before likely solidifying his position with Saturday’s outing.
“As far as being physically and mentally tough and working hard,” defensive coordinator Josh Boyer said, “Sam exemplifies all those things. It’s always good to see him out there having success.”
Adding to his motivation, Eguavoen keeps his little brother, Owen, who has epilepsy, in mind.
“He has random seizures all the time and, little things that we take for granted in life like driving to the grocery store or going out to eat with your friends and things like that, he doesn’t have that lifestyle,” Eguavoen said. “He’s always in the house until somebody takes him somewhere.
“When I’m here, I’m so locked in on football, sometimes I end up forgetting about him, but I know who I’m doing it for, and then once I get back home in the offseason, I’m just like, man, he’s been doing the same thing every single day, so I try to do the most I can with him in the offseason. And hopefully I make enough money, have a long enough career where I can take care of him and stuff for as long as I can.”
Eguavoen had his game despite missing the two joint practices against the Falcons on Wednesday and Thursday, activated from
the two-day stint on the COVID list on Friday before the Saturday game. Dolphins coach Brian Flores quipped that Eguavoen had fresh legs for the preseason game.
At one point Saturday night, a mob of Dolphins starters on defense, who had since called it a night in the exhibition, borderline attacked him in celebration as he came back to the sideline. Defensive lineman Christian Wilkins delivered a flurry of punches on Eguavoen.
“I’m like, ‘Dang, I don’t want to make no more plays because this kind of hurts,’ ” Eguavoen said, laughing. “But it’s a team game, man. It’s 11 [players]; it’s a tough sport. Anytime you can make a play, man, just celebrate, rejoice, but then get right back to the next play.”
Eguavoen is a versatile linebacker that has largely worked on the outside previously but has now been playing inside linebacker with the ability to rush the passer from the interior.