Obada, who signed a one-year contract to stay with Washington after tying a career best with 24 tackles to go along with four sacks in 2022, had a challenging season in 2023. Before injuring his leg in Week 11 against the New York Giants, he only appeared in five games this season after beginning it on injured reserve.
Obada was understandably in a depressive state once he was returned to IR, ending his season with just two tackles. He was going to make a full recovery, but he had no idea what the setback would mean for his career. At his press conference in late March, Obada called it “my lowest point” as he worried about how he would provide for his family.
Obada got a handful of text messages after his surgery to show their support. One of them was from Quinn.
“He messaged me that I was a warrior and that I would get back,” Obada said. “And that meant so much to me.”
For Obada, Quinn’s message was unexpected. The two had previously crossed paths when Obada spent almost a month with the Atlanta Falcons in 2016 after receiving an invitation to their training camp. Quinn was the team’s head coach at the time.
Though Obada didn’t give it much thought at the time, receiving a message from Quinn over ten years later made him realize how much the head coach still valued him.
Obada knows he isn’t the only one who has experienced something like that from Quinn.
“I’m sure there’s so many other guys, so many other players, coaches that have amazing testimony to the character of Coach Dan Quinn and how much he cares and how much he goes above and beyond.”
