American Football club, Kansas City Chiefs have added Nigerian-born guard, Kelechi Keith Ayo Osemele to their squad on a year’s deal, to shore up their offensive line after Duvernay-Tardif opted out, megasportsarena.com reports.
Osemele arrives in a deal worth a maximum value of $2m, after the eight-year National Football League (NFL) veteran had a tumultuous 2019 with New York Jets, where he battled with injuries and, though he started the first three games of the season, he was released after opting to go for shoulder surgery in October.
However, his medical procedure had not been authorized by the team, as The Jets did not agree with the timing of the season-ending surgery and implored Osemele to play through the injury barrier, but the veteran left-guard got three opinions and opted to have the operation.
The offensive guard played college football at Iowa State, after which he was selected by Baltimore Ravens in the second round of the 2012 NFL Draft, and was a rookie starter throughout the team’s Super Bowl XLVII championship run that season.
Born June 24, 1989 in Houston, Texas, USA, Osemele attended Langham Creek High School and, after entering his senior season of college at Iowa State in 2011, he had started 30 consecutive games, following which he became a second team all Big 12 selection in 2009 and achieved an honorable mention in 2010.
Osemele made two Pro Bowls in 2016-17 and was an All-Pro in 2016 with Oakland Raiders after which Baltimore Ravens selected him in the second round of the 2012 draft and, despite so much controversy surrounding him, Kansas City willingly reached an agreement on a $2m with the Nigerian-born ace.
Terez Paylor of Yahoo.com added: “Osemele underwent shoulder surgery after three games with the Jets last season. Things went sideways between the team and Osemele after that, and the Jets released him Oct. 26. Osemele, 31, has played mostly left guard in his career. He has 96 career starts and has made two Pro Bowls and was first-team All-Pro in 2016.”
