Seahawks: Amara Darboh will Create Vital Receiver Competition
By Ben Renner
Seahawks rookie receiver Amara Darboh, drafted 106th overall in the third round, will inject more vital competition into the receiving corps when Training Camp begins.
The Seahawks are months away from serious Training Camp action, when the competition for roster spots and in-game roles will heat up. The Seahawks thrive on roster competition. Pete Carroll opens his Training Camps up, which helps find the diamonds in the rough from the NFL Draft, and pushes the incumbent starters to fend off the youngsters coming for their spots.
Amara Darboh, a third round draft pick from Michigan (another former Harbaugh disciple on Carroll’s roster, joining safety Delano Hill), has the size, speed, and competitive fire to succeed on the Seahawks roster.
The 6’2″, 214-pound receiver ran a 4.45 40-yard dash at the NFL Combine and showed a penchant for covering kick and punt returners well at Michigan. He’ll likely have a special teams spot for him at worst. He also learned Michigan’s pro-style pass attack and seems to fit well into the professional game. Aside from some struggles beating press coverage, Darboh is suited for NFL play.
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The question is, will he beat out the crowded receiving corps in Seattle? The Seahawks added receiver David Moore in the seventh round of the draft out of East Central University to a group that includes Doug Baldwin, Jermaine Kearse, Tyler Lockett (coming off a serious leg injury), Paul Richardson, Cyril Grayson, Tanner McEvoy, and second-year player Kenny Lawler. Darboh will have to distinguish himself from this group of established veterans and promising young players.
But making the Seahawks and carving out a role must seem like child’s play compared to what Darboh had to do to be in this position.
Darboh was born in Freetown, Sierra Leone in 1994, at the start of a brutal civil war that would devastate the West African country, killing over 50,000 people, including both Darboh’s parents, in 11 years. He and his 13 siblings moved around Sierra Leone and several surrounding countries to escape the violence that engulfed the region. Finally, in 2001, a Christian group in Des Moines, Iowa sponsored his family to live there in house all their own.
Darboh’s older sister Lovetta raised him and his siblings there until Darboh could move in with a Little League teammate’s family when he was in sixth grade. The Shaefers officially adopted Darboh, and he earned US Citizenship in 2015.
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It turned out that Darboh was also a talented football player. Considering the things he has seen and gone through, the battle on the gridiron must seem like a cakewalk. Darboh takes nothing for granted and the Seahawks saw a player with fire in his belly and something to prove on the football field.