What a difference a year makes.
On January 30 of 2020, cornerback Chidobe Awuzie was fresh off a rough year with the Dallas Cowboys, wondering where his future might take him.
On January 30 of 2021, he found out it would be Super Bowl LVI, having punched his ticket to the title game after a conference championship win with the Cincinnati Bengals.
Awuzie played every defensive snap for the Bengals in Sunday’s road win over Kansas City and was a key component to the team’s success this season. After tallying 64 tackles and a pair of interceptions over 14 contests in the regular season, he added 19 more tackles on Cincinnati’s three-game run through the AFC playoff bracket.
The son of Nigerian immigrants, the California-born Awuzie will now be back in the Golden State, where he’ll suit up for the biggest game of his life and try to bring a Lombardi Trophy to Cincinnati for the first time in that franchise’s 54-years of existence.
It’s been quite a journey.
“As everybody knows, in life, success isn’t a straight line,” the 26-year-old said prior to Championship Weekend. “It goes in a lot of curves, a lot of ups and downs.”
My dog going to the Super Bowl!!!!!!! @ChidobeAwuzie
— Jourdan Lewis (@JourdanJD) January 30, 2022
Awuzie first hit the NFL road as a second-round draft pick by Dallas in 2017. He had put together a solid collegiate career at Colorado, but most fans remember his selection announcement for its emphatic delivery, made by a trash-talking Drew Pearson in Philadelphia.
His rookie season brought several of the aforementioned ups and downs. He logged four tackles in the season opening-win over the Giants and was starting by Week 2. But injuries caused him to miss six of the next seven games for the Cowboys. He ended his first year in the pros by starting the team’s final five games and recorded his first career interception against the Eagles in the finale.
2018 saw Awuzie start 15 of 16 outings opposite Byron Jones, missing just one game with an ankle injury. The year ended with a postseason appearance for Dallas; Awuzie made 12 tackles and defended two passes as the Cowboys beat Seattle in the wild-card round and then lost to the Rams at the divisional stage.
He started all 16 games for the Cowboys in 2019 in what would be coach Jason Garrett’s final season. The next year saw him sit seven games with a hamstring injury and miss another game due to COVID-19. In just eight games played, he finished the 2020 campaign second on the team in pass breakups. After a 6-10 finish for coordinator Dan Quinn’s defense, Awuzie was allowed to enter free agency in March 2021.
He didn’t last long on the open market; Cincinnati signed him to a three-year contract within the first few hours of the new league year opening.
Oh my goodness, Chidobe Awuzie.
What an interception. 🤯
📽️: @NFL pic.twitter.com/dUNoZTLjMr
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) December 5, 2021
Awuzie finished his first season in Cincinnati as the sixth-leading tackler and tied for second place on the team in interceptions. He was the highest-graded cornerback in the entire AFC, according to Pro Football Focus.
While the Dallas defense engineered their own substantial turnaround in 2021 to become one of the league’s most opportunistic, Cowboys fans are left to wonder how things might have looked with both Awuzie and Trevon Diggs patrolling the secondary this season.
As it is, they’ll have to settle for rooting for a rising star who was formerly one of their own as he attempts to win a championship ring with his new team.
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