Ebenezer Ekuban was the 20th overall pick of the Dallas Cowboys back in 1999, out of North Carolina, ahead of a couple guys who you may have heard of like Joey Porter and Donald Driver. Ekuban was brought in to help Dallas' pass rush.
He didn't.
Ekuban mustered up 2.5 sacks in his rookie season, playing in all 16 games but only starting two. He followed that inspiring performance with a much-improved 6.5 sacks the following season for the Cowboys. Looking to build on that breakout season, Ekuban didn't manage more than 2.5 sacks in his remaining three seasons with Dallas. In 2004, Ekuban signed with Cleveland, where he would have the best season of his career, notching eight sacks. The Browns were so inspired by Ebenezer's play that......they shipped him to Denver along with defensive tackle Michael Myers in exchange for former Giants' bruiser and Gabe Rodriguez teen idol Reuben Droughns. Ekuban racked up 11 sacks in his first two seasons and, just as it looked as if he turned the corner, Ekuban tore his Achilles tendon in a preseason game against....wait for it....wait for it.....the Dallas Cowboys, which wiped out his 2007 season. Ekuban came back with a vengeance in 2008, with a rip-roaring five sacks. However, once the Broncos opted to move to the 3-4 under new coach Josh McDaniels, Ekuban founds himself on the outside looking in. In 2009, the Raiders kicked the tires on the Ghana native but never offered a contract. Currently, the former Tarheel is an Assistant coach for Regis Jesuit High School in my wife's hometown of Aurora Colorado.
More important than all of that is he's the only man named Ebenezer that I know of that isn't wheeling around a retirement home, dropping loads in his Depends or starring in "A Christmas Carol".
So, let's give a somewhat inspired round-of-applause for one of the many Dallas Cowboy draft blunders, Ebenezer Ekuban, ladies and gentlemen!
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