Denver Broncos: Amara Darboh has beaten the odds before

The Denver Broncos worked out a couple of former Seattle Seahawks this week and decided to bring one of them onto the roster.

Though many fans probably expected that player to be linebacker Shaquem Griffin, the team opted against giving him a contract and instead signed wide receiver Amara Darboh. On the same day, the team inked wide receiver De’Mornay Pierson-El to a contract.

The  Seahawks chose Darboh in the third round of the 2017 draft in which he was one of the higher-rated prospects at that position in the class. However, he’s never been able to get any traction in the NFL.

The Seahawks moved on from Darboh after just one year and since then, he has spent time on the practice squads of several teams around the league. He has just eight catches for his career.

There is a good chance that Denver could be his last chance in the NFL, but Darboh has overcome the odds before.

Born in Sierra Leone, Africa, his parents were both killed when he was a very small child. The rest of his family left the area during the Sierra Leone Civil War in which over 50,000 people were killed.

Eventually, Darboh and his family landed in Iowa and that is where he grew up, learning to play the game. That led to him signing with one of the biggest football schools in the country, the University of Michigan.

In Ann Arbor, Darboh caught 151 passes for over 2,000 yards and had 14 touchdowns, including seven scores as a senior. It appeared that he would go on to have a productive NFL career, but that just hasn’t happened.

What are Amara Darboh’s chances of making the team?

In Denver, he joins the most crowded position group on the team. Following the signings of Darboh and Pierson-El, the Broncos now have 15 wide receivers on their 90-man roster.

It will be difficult for Darboh to get ahead of all of those names on the depth chart, but he has a chance and he has overcome much more difficult situations. He has good size at 6-foot-2 and the athletic traits that once made him a third-round pick.

The Broncos have some wide receivers on the roster that are basically locks to make the team, such as Courtland Sutton, Jerry Jeudy, K.J. Hamler, and Tim Patrick. But the team will likely keep five or six guys at that spot and depending on whether or not they want to keep a return specialist like Diontae Spencer, there could be even more room for a guy like Darboh.

The odds of making the team will be tough, but Darboh has the kind of experience in the league that the undrafted players on the roster don’t. He also has the knowledge that this could be his last stop in the league.

Don’t be surprised to see him have a good summer in Denver.