A multi-day absence from training camp can be a death knell for the roster prospects of a player like Dolphins linebacker Sam Eguavoen, who is on the bubble and missed a pair of joint practices with the Atlanta Falcons after landing on the reserve/COVID-19 list Wednesday.
But instead of letting it hinder his progress, Eguavoen came back to the field on Saturday night and accomplished a feat he had never reached: a four-sack performance in the Dolphins’ 37-17 preseason win over the Falcons.
“Last time I had four sacks? My dream last night,” Eguavoen joked after the game.
The standout showing capped a whirlwind week for the third-year player in which he missed practice on Wednesday and Thursday, was activated to the roster on Friday and then played 38 snaps on Saturday, which led all Dolphins defensive players.
“It’s always stressful when you can’t practice with your team, especially in training camp and things like that,” Eguavoen said. “You know, everybody is trying to make a team. Two days in the football world feels like a month. When I came back, everybody was like, ‘Man, where you been, you lost weight,’ things like that. It’s just tough not being able to practice, especially when we had joint practice with Atlanta. But just being able to come back and still understand the plays and everything, I was just happy about that.”
On Eguavoen’s final sack, a third-quarter takedown for a safety, he ran back to the sideline, where he was met by several of the team’s starters, whose night had long been over. Their reaction wasn’t just excitement for a teammate, but enthusiasm for a player who has had to climb uphill just to get this opportunity.
A four-year player at Texas Tech, Eguavoen wasn’t selected in the 2015 draft and spent three seasons in the Canadian Football League before signing with the Dolphins in January 2019.
“I’ve been playing football for a long time and I don’t think I’ve seen a guy get that many sacks and have that type of impact on the defensive side,” safety Eric Rowe said. “The guy has been working hard. He’s been a special teams guy for a while. He’s been a guy you can count on on defense. To see him have that type of a game, everybody was excited. You saw the sideline. He deserved it.
“I remember when I first met him in 2019, he was like, ‘Man, I’ve got to get my chance, I’ve got to get my shot, all that stuff.’ And he’s in year three, and he’s the same way, same grind. That’s great for him. You’ve got to keep that chip on your shoulder.”
Eguavoen has only started seven of 32 games he’s appeared in for the Dolphins but has been a versatile option for the team, spending time at outside linebacker and moving inside to be a situational pass-rusher.
“Coach [Flores] always talks about, ‘You want to be a doctorate in your position but have your master’s in here, have your GED here,’” Eguavoen said. “You don’t ever want to just be dumb at any position on the football field.”
Eguavoen’s passion for football has not just been driven by his own journey but that of his younger brother, Owen, who has epilepsy.
“He has epilepsy so 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. So it’s just like, 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.”
And with that in mind, while Eguavoen has relished what may be the biggest game of his career so far, he knows he can’t rest on it.
“It’s still a fight,” Eguavoen said. “It don’t matter what you do today. It’s always – the rent is due every day. It’s never just – 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 tonight, but tomorrow 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.”
Flores undecided on starters playing in finale
Dolphins coach Brian Flores said Sunday that the team has yet to decide on whether it will play its starters in the third and final preseason game against the Cincinnati Bengals.
“[I] haven’t really thought about what we’re going to do next week, who’s going to play, how much,” Flores said. “We’ll meet about that a little bit tonight, probably formulate a plan on that throughout the week. But playing in those games is important and the guys who are on the bubble or close, those guys will play. How much, we haven’t gotten to that.”
Quarterback Tua Tagovailoa played the entire first half Saturday and most of the starting offensive line played into the third quarter. Teams have taken various approaches to playing time in the preseason as the NFL has pivoted from four games to three. The Falcons rested the majority of their starters Saturday night.
Players such as receivers DeVante Parker, Albert Wilson, Will Fuller V and Preston Williams haven’t played at all this preseason as they’ve been limited by injury.
Flores said if such players are healthy enough to practice fully, the team would make a decision on whether playing in the preseason finale would be beneficial.
“It’s always good to get reps,” Flores said. “It’s always good to get some game action. Those guys are working to get back as soon as they can and we’ll see what practice looks like this week. If they can string together a couple good days of practice, then we’ll talk about them playing in a game. As of right now, those guys, they’re just working to get back as quickly as they can.”