Still relatively new to football, Chicago Bears offensive lineman Roy Mbaeteka is taking advantage of the NFL's International Player Pathway program. He's a driven 6-foot-9, 320-pound giant trying to take a dream and turn it into a riveting fairy tale.
Chicago Bears offensive tackle Roy Mbaeteka warms up for a preseason game against the Buffalo Bills at Soldier Field in Chicago on Saturday, Aug. 26, 2023.
“I don’t like to dwell on negative thoughts,” he said. “Even standing there and watching, I’m still learning a lot about this game and observing other people to see how they operate. There’s a big learning curve for me.“Do I want to be out there? Yes. But I still believe that on this journey, there will be perfect timing.”
Mbaeteka wasn’t exactly all-in on the day his football journey truly accelerated. He was just being agreeable in the summer of 2021 when a buddy, Sodiq Muhammed, urged him to come along to the Uprise camp in Abuja, the capital of Nigeria. “Mind you,” Mbaeteka said, “this was immediately after the COVID-19 lockdown had lifted. Nobody was giving anybody a ride.”“In my mind, I’m thinking, ‘I’m just going to stand here by the road for a couple hours and when nothing happens I’ll go back home.’ Just making it look like, ‘Hey, I gave it a shot.’”
From there, he received his first professional contract with the Giants, spending 2022 on the team’s practice squad before re-entering the NFL’s IPP and being assigned to the Bears in May.
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