Gbolahan Devin Aromashodu (born September 25, 1984) is an American former professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

wide receiver A wide receiver (WR), also referred to as a wideout, and historically known as a split end (SE) or flanker (FL), is an eligible receiver in gridiron football. A key skill position of the offense (American football), offense, WR gets its name ...

. He was selected by the

Miami Dolphins The Miami Dolphins are a professional American football team based in the Miami metropolitan area. The Dolphins compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East division. The team ...

in the seventh round of the

2006 NFL draft The 2006 NFL draft, the 71st in league history, took place in New York City, New York, at Radio City Music Hall on April 29 and April 30, 2006. For the 27th consecutive year, the draft was telecast on ESPN and ESPN2, with additional coverage offe ...

. He played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

at Auburn. Aromashodu was also a member of the

Indianapolis Colts The Indianapolis Colts are a professional American football team based in Indianapolis. The Colts compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division. Since the 2008 India ...

Houston Texans The Houston Texans are a professional American football team based in Houston. The Texans compete in the National Football League as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division. The team plays its home games at N ...

Washington Redskins The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East ...

Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. They are one of two remaining ...

, and

Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. The Vikings compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. Founded in 1960 as ...

Early life

Aromashodu was born and raised in

Miami, Florida Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...

. His father, who immigrated to the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

from

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

, was deeply fond of football, but was reluctant to let his son play. Aromashodu eventually convinced his father to let him join a youth football team, where he surprised his father by becoming one of the team's best players. Aromashodu attended

Miami Springs High School Miami Springs Senior High School is a secondary school located at 751 Dove Avenue in Miami Springs, Florida, United States; its principal is Nelson Gonzalez (2022–Present). The school is part of Miami-Dade County Public Schools, Miami-Dade Coun ...

, where he was a three-sport star in football, basketball and track. In

, he played as a

defensive back In gridiron football, defensive backs (DBs), also called the secondary, are the players on the defensive side of the ball who play farthest back from the line of scrimmage. They are distinguished from the other two sets of defensive players, the ...

and

kickoff returner A return specialist or kick returner is a player on the special teams unit of a gridiron football team who specializes in returning punts and kickoffs. There are few players who are exclusively return specialists; most also play another position ...

. As a junior, he caught 29 passes for 620 yards and seven

touchdowns A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Scoring a touchdown grants the team that scored it 6 points. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchd ...

and returned two kickoffs for touchdowns. As a senior, he caught 17 passes for 417 yards and four touchdowns and rushed for 372 yards and four scores on offense, while also totaled 45 tackles and one interception on defense. He frequently played against future teammate

Devin Hester Devin Devorris Hester Sr. (born November 4, 1982) is an American former professional football player who was a wide receiver and return specialist in the National Football League (NFL). The only primary return specialist to be enshrined in the ...

. Also a standout

track and field Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includes Competition#Sports, athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name used in North America is derived from where the sport takes place, a ru ...

athlete, Aromashodu was one of the state's top sprinters. At the 2002 FHSAA State T&F Championships, he earned second-place finishes in both

100-meter dash The 100 metres, or 100-meter dash, is a sprint race in track and field competitions. The shortest common outdoor running distance, the dash is one of the most popular and prestigious events in the sport of athletics. It has been contested at ...

(10.62 s) and

200-meter dash The 200 metres, or 200-meter dash, is a sprint running event. On an outdoor 400-metre racetrack, the race begins on the curve and ends on the home straight, so a combination of techniques is needed to successfully run the race. A slight ...

(22.28 s) events. In addition, he also ran a 4.4-second

40-yard dash The 40-yard dash is a sprint covering . It is primarily run to evaluate the speed and acceleration of American football players by scouts, particularly for the NFL draft but also for collegiate recruiting. A player's recorded time can have a he ...

, bench-pressed 250 lb, squatted 285 and had a 42-inch

vertical jump A vertical jump or vertical leap is the act of jumping upwards into the air. It can be an exercise for building both endurance and strength, and is also a standard test for measuring athletic performance. It may also be referred to as a ''Sargent ...

College career

Aromashodu expressed interest in attending

North Carolina State North Carolina State University (NC State, North Carolina State, NC State University, or NCSU) is a public land-grant research university in Raleigh, North Carolina, United States. Founded in 1887 and part of the University of North Carolina sy ...

Auburn University Auburn University (AU or Auburn) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Auburn, Alabama, United States. With more than 26,800 undergraduate students, over 6,100 post-graduate students, and a tota ...

, and

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

. After much deliberation, he chose to play for Auburn. Devin played a critical role in Auburn's offense during three of the four years he spent there, logging 71 catches for 1,333 yards and 9 touchdowns in 51 games with the Tigers.

Professional career

Miami Dolphins

After being selected by the

with the 233rd overall pick in the seventh round of the

, Aromashodu failed to make the team's opening day roster.

Indianapolis Colts

After being cut from the Dolphins, Aromashodu would begin his early career as a

practice squad In gridiron football, the practice squad, also called the taxi squad or practice roster, is a group of players signed by a team but not part of their main roster. They serve as extra players during the team's practices, often as part of the scou ...

member for a number of NFL teams. A member of the

and

's practice teams in 2007, Devin was signed to the active roster of the Colts on November 14, 2007. He would make appearances in six regular season games that season, amassing 96 yards on seven receptions.

Washington Redskins

Aromashodu was later waived by the Colts on August 7, 2008, and soon signed with the

practice squad.

Chicago Bears (first stint)

After remaining on the inactive list during his first year with the

Jay Cutler Jay Christopher Cutler (born April 29, 1983) is an American former professional American football, football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 12 seasons. A member of the Chicago Bears for most of his career, he is ...

lobbied to the team's offensive coordinator, Ron Turner, to give Aromashodu playing time. He caught his first pass as a Bear on November 12, 2009, against the

San Francisco 49ers The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners and nicknamed the Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member ...

. Aromashodu began to play a larger role in the team's offense after wide receiver

was sidelined with a calf injury. He caught his first NFL career touchdown from Cutler on December 13, against the

Green Bay Packers The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. They ar ...

. Aromashodu played an integral part in the Bears

Monday Night Football ''Monday Night Football'' (often abbreviated as ''MNF'') is the branding used for broadcasts of National Football League (NFL) games that air on Monday nights. It originally ran on American Broadcasting Company, ABC from 1970 NFL season, 1970 t ...

upset victory over the

, catching seven passes for 150 yards, including the game-winning touchdown in overtime. During the 2009 season finale, Aromashodu caught two touchdowns and amassed 46 yards on five receptions in a 37–23 win over the

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) NFC North, North division. The team plays their home game ...

. He finished the season with 24 catches, 298 yards, and four receiving touchdowns. His remarkable finish sparked criticism of the Bears' front office regarding why it took until Week 14 for Aromashodu to see significant playing time. Former Bears

offensive coordinator An offensive coordinator (OC) is a Coach (sport), coach responsible for a gridiron football team's offense (American football), offense. Generally, the offensive coordinator, defensive coordinator and special teams coordinator represent the second ...

Ron Turner responded, " romashodugot hurt in the last preseason game. He hurt his hamstring, and he was out a couple weeks. When he came back, he wasn't back 100 percent. When he got back to the point that he was practicing at full speed and playing, we started to get him in the lineup. Could we have done it a couple weeks earlier? Possibly. But once he got healthy and started playing well in practice, we started getting him in the mix."

Minnesota Vikings

On July 26, 2011, Aromashodu and the Vikings came to agreement on a one-year contract. He caught 26 passes for 468 yards and one touchdown during the season, while starting six games. He became an unrestricted free agent Following the 2011 NFL season, but signed a 1-year to contract to remain with the Vikings on March 23, 2012. He caught 11 passes for 182 yards in the 2012 season.

Chicago Bears (second stint)

On June 10, 2013, Aromashodu returned to the Bears. On August 25, 2013, Aromashadu was released in a wave of preseason roster cuts.

References

External links

Auburn Tigers bio
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Aromashodu, Devin 1984 births Living people American football wide receivers Auburn Tigers football players Chicago Bears players Houston Texans players 21st-century American sportsmen Indianapolis Colts players Washington Redskins players Miami Dolphins players Miami Springs Senior High School alumni Minnesota Vikings players Players of American football from Fort Lauderdale, Florida American players of American football of Nigerian descent