Dru Samia III (born August 22, 1997) is an

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 with ...

offensive guard Offensive may refer to: * Offensive, the former name of the Dutch political party Socialist Alternative * Offensive (military), an attack * Offensive language ** Fighting words or insulting language, words that by their very utterance inflict inj ...

for the

New York Jets The New York Jets are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Jets compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The J ...

of the

National Football League 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 ...

(NFL). He played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...

College career

A four-star offensive tackle recruit, Samia chose

out of 15 scholarship offers received. Samia won the 2018

Joe Moore Award The Joe Moore Award is awarded annually to the best college football offensive line unit. The award is presented by the Joe Moore Foundation for Teamwork and they state that "The Joe Moore Award for the Most Outstanding Offensive Line Unit will a ...

, and was named a second-team All-American and first-team All-

Big 12 Conference The Big 12 Conference is a college athletic conference headquartered in Irving, Texas, USA. It consists of ten full-member universities. It is a member of Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) for all sports. Its ...

after moving from right tackle to right guard. Scouts noted Samia for his hustle to the whistle, but also noted an occasionally high pad level. During his time at OU, Samia also made the All-Big 12 Academic Team twice.

Professional career

At the 2019

NFL Scouting Combine The NFL Scouting Combine is a week-long showcase occurring every February at Lucas Oil Stadium (and formerly at the RCA Dome until 2008) in Indianapolis, where college football players perform physical and mental tests in front of National Footb ...

, Samia ran the 40-yard dash in 5.29 seconds, recorded 28 reps on the bench press, a 27.5-inch vertical jump and a 101-inch broad jump.

Minnesota Vikings

Samia was drafted by the

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

in the fourth round (114th overall) of the

2019 NFL Draft The 2019 NFL Draft was the 84th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible players for the 2019 NFL season. The draft was held on April 25–27 in Nashville, Tennessee. The first round was held on April 2 ...

. Samia was placed on the reserve/

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

list by the team on November 16, 2020, and activated on November 25. On August 31, 2021, Samia was waived/injured by the Vikings and placed on injured reserve. He was released on September 8, 2021.

New York Jets

On October 12, 2021, Samia was signed to the New York Jets practice squad. He signed a reserve/future contract with the Jets on January 10, 2022. He was waived on July 26, 2022 and placed on the reserve/ PUP list.

Personal life

Samia is half Samoan, and got a tattoo to signify the importance of the Samoan culture to him. He is married to Val Samia, who he met in Oklahoma while in college.

References

External links

Oklahoma Sooners bio
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Samia, Dru 1997 births Living people American people of Samoan descent Players of American football from Sacramento, California American football offensive guards Oklahoma Sooners football players Minnesota Vikings players New York Jets players