Ephraim Mateen Salaam (born June 19, 1976) is a former

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wit ...

offensive tackle. He was drafted by the Atlanta Falcons in the seventh round (199th overall) of the

1998 NFL Draft The 1998 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 18–19, 1998, at the Theater at ...

. He played college football at

San Diego State San Diego State University (SDSU) is a public research university in San Diego, California. Founded in 1897 as San Diego Normal School, it is the third-oldest university and southernmost in the 23-member California State University (CSU) system ...

. Salaam has played for the Atlanta Falcons,

Denver Broncos The Denver Broncos are a professional American football franchise based in Denver. The Broncos compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The team is headquar ...

Jacksonville Jaguars The Jacksonville Jaguars are a professional American football team based in Jacksonville, Florida. The Jaguars compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) South division. The team pla ...

Detroit Lions The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) North Division. The team play their home games at For ...

, and Houston Texans.

Early years

Salaam played high school football at Florin High School in

Sacramento ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250x200px , map_caption = Location within Sacramento ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the ...

College career

Salaam became a three-year starter as both a right and left tackle at

San Diego State University San Diego State University (SDSU) is a public research university in San Diego, California. Founded in 1897 as San Diego Normal School, it is the third-oldest university and southernmost in the 23-member California State University (CSU) syste ...

, where he played in 31 career games. He also played on the basketball team.

Professional career

Salaam was selected by the Atlanta Falcons in the 7th round (199th overall) of the

. The Falcons went 14-2 during Salaam's rookie season, and won the

NFC Championship The NFC Championship Game is the annual championship game of the National Football Conference (NFC) and one of the two semi-final National Football League playoffs, playoff games of the National Football League (NFL), the largest professional Amer ...

to earn their first ever trip to the Super Bowl. Salaam started at right tackle in the Falcons' defeat to the

Super Bowl XXXIII Super Bowl XXXIII was an American football game played between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Denver Broncos (who were also defending their Super Bowl XXXII championship) and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion At ...

. Salaam was the 4th rookie in NFL history to start all 19 games including the Super Bowl. He also was the youngest player to start a Super Bowl at the age of 22. Salaam played a total of 13

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the maj ...

seasons for five

teams, including the Atlanta Falcons,

, Houston Texans, and

Basketball

On October 31, 2013, Salaam was invited to the

Texas Legends The Texas Legends are an American professional basketball team in the NBA G League based in Frisco, Texas, and are affiliated with the Dallas Mavericks. The Legends play their home games at the Comerica Center. The team began as the Colorado 1 ...

2013 training camp. However, he was later waived on November 17.

Personal life

Salaam appeared in an ad with Texans teammate Chester Pitts during

Super Bowl XLII Super Bowl XLII was an American football game between the National Football Conference (NFC) champion 2007 New York Giants season, New York Giants and the American Football Conference (AFC) champion 2007 New England Patriots season, New England ...

. In the commercial, he narrates a story regarding him and Pitts while he attended

. When at a local grocery store, Salaam said he saw Pitts bagging groceries, was impressed by his size, and convinced him to try out as a walk-on for the

San Diego State Aztecs football team : ''For information on all San Diego State University sports, see San Diego State Aztecs'' The San Diego State Aztecs football team represents San Diego State University in the sport of American football. The Aztecs compete in the Football ...

. The commercial goes on to show that Pitts was a second-round pick while Salaam was a seventh-round pick. On February 10, 2013, Salaam was interviewed by

United States Secretary of State The United States secretary of state is a member of the executive branch of the federal government of the United States and the head of the U.S. Department of State. The office holder is one of the highest ranking members of the president's ...

Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, diplomat, and former lawyer who served as the 67th United States Secretary of State for President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, as a United States senat ...

at the

United States Department of State The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the Federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government responsible for the country's fore ...

. The event was put on to honor a multitude of Muslim athletes. On January 24, 2013, Salaam revealed on a

Grantland ''Grantland'' was a sports and pop-culture blog owned and operated by ESPN. The blog was started in 2011 by veteran writer and sports journalist Bill Simmons, who remained as editor-in-chief until May 2015. ''Grantland'' was named after famed ...

podcast that he is the nephew of

Bob McAdoo Robert Allen McAdoo Jr. ( ; born September 25, 1951) is an American former professional basketball player and coach. He played 14 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA), where he was a five-time NBA All-Star and named the NBA Most ...

. Salaam became an analyst on

Fox Sports 1 Fox Sports 1 (FS1) is an American pay television channel owned by the Fox Sports Media Group, a unit of Fox Corporation. FS1 replaced the motorsports network Speed on August 17, 2013, at the same time that its companion channel Fox Sports ...

in 2013.

Movie career

Deon Taylor Deon Taylor is an American filmmaker. He is the founder of Hidden Empire Film Group. Life Deon Taylor was born in Chicago and grew up in Gary, Indiana. During high school, he with his brother and mother moved to Sacramento, California. He has ...

cast him in 2009 for his new film project ''Dark Christmas'', which is part of the Nite Tales series. Salaam has served as a producer on two separate TV shows, ''Dead Tone'' (2007) and ''Supremacy'' (2012).

Television career

In 2013, Salaam participated in the 23rd season of ''

The Amazing Race ''The Amazing Race'' is an adventure reality game show franchise in which teams of two people race around the world in competition with other teams. The ''Race'' is split into legs, with teams tasked to deduce clues, navigate themselves in forei ...

'' with former teammate Chester Pitts. After encountering several travel delays on their way from

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated region, the Santiago Metropolitan Region, who ...

to Lisbon, they finished in 9th Place out of 11 teams and were the third team eliminated from the race upon arrival when host

Phil Keoghan Philip John Keoghan ( ; born 31 May 1967) is a New Zealand television personality, best known for hosting the American version of '' The Amazing Race'' on CBS, since its 2001 debut. He is the creator and host of '' No Opportunity Wasted'', w ...

arrived at Lisbon Airport, as all of the other teams in the race had already finished all of the tasks and then checked in at the Pit Stop before they even made it to Portugal. Moreover, they become the first team ever in ''Amazing Race'' history to be eliminated at the airport.

References

External links

Detroit Lions bioHouston Texans bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Salaam, Ephraim 1976 births Living people African-American Muslims Players of American football from Chicago Basketball players from Chicago American football offensive tackles San Diego State Aztecs men's basketball players San Diego State Aztecs football players Atlanta Falcons players Denver Broncos players Jacksonville Jaguars players Houston Texans players Detroit Lions players The Amazing Race (American TV series) contestants American men's basketball players