BIOGRAPHY
Romeo Okwara was born on June 17, 1995, in Charlotte, North Carolina. He is a defensive end in the NFL.
Okwara moved to the United States from Nigeria as a sixth-grader and attended Ardrey Kell for High School. As a junior in 2010 recorded 70 tackles, nine sacks, two forced fumbles, and a blocked field goal. The following year he was named First-team defensive lineman on the all-Observer squad by Charlotte Observer for 2011.
While attending Notre Dame, Okwara was used heavily on special teams in his freshman season. Throughout his sophomore and junior seasons, he earned ample playing time as a defensive tackle and even earned Football Bowl Subdivision Defensive Player of the Week (9.15.14).
Okwara signed with the New York Giants as an undrafted free agent on May 6, 2016. Okwara made his first start replacing Jason Pierre-Paul in a 10-7 victory over the Dallas Cowboys on December 11, 2016. On October 17, 2017, Okwara was placed on injured reserve with a knee sprain. He was activated off injured reserve to the active roster on December 19, 2017. On September 4, 2018, Okwara was waived by the Giants.
On September 5, 2018, Okwara was claimed off waivers by the Detroit Lions. On October 7, 2018, against the Green Bay Packers, Okwara strip-sacked quarterback Aaron Rodgers for a fumble recovery. He played in 15 games with 15 starts, finishing with 39 combined tackles, a team-leading 7.5 sacks, and a forced fumble. On March 1, 2019, Okwara signed a two-year contract extension with the Lions.
On August 23, 2022, Okwara was placed on the reserve/PUP list to start the season. He was activated on December 3.
