Paul Fuapapa Soliai (born December 30, 1983) 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 wi ...

defensive tackle. He played college football at

University of Utah The University of Utah (U of U, UofU, or simply The U) is a public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah. It is the flagship institution of the Utah System of Higher Education. The university was established in 1850 as the University of De ...

. He was drafted by the

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

in the fourth round of the 2007 NFL Draft. He has also played for the Atlanta Falcons and the

Carolina Panthers The Carolina Panthers are a professional American football team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Panthers compete in the National Football League (NFL), as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. ...

High school career

Soliai, of Samoan descent, attended

Rancho Alamitos High School Rancho Alamitos High School is in Garden Grove, California. It is a member of the Garden Grove Unified School District and serves north-central Garden Grove and a section of Stanton. The high school first opened in the spring of 1957 with no se ...

in Garden Grove before moving to American Samoa for his senior year, he attended Nu'uuli Technical High School in

Pago Pago Pago Pago ( ; Samoan: )Harris, Ann G. and Esther Tuttle (2004). ''Geology of National Parks''. Kendall Hunt. Page 604. . is the territorial capital of American Samoa. It is in Maoputasi County on Tutuila, which is American Samoa's main island. ...

American Samoa American Samoa ( sm, Amerika Sāmoa, ; also ' or ') is an unincorporated territory of the United States located in the South Pacific Ocean, southeast of the island country of Samoa. Its location is centered on . It is east of the Internationa ...

where he was team captain as a senior.

College career

Junior college

Soliai spend two seasons at

Coffeyville Community College Coffeyville Community College (CCC) is a community college located in Coffeyville, Kansas, United States. It was founded in 1923. Coffeyville Community College is a member of the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference and the National Ju ...

in Coffeyville,

Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to th ...

. He was a two-time All- Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference offensive lineman. He earned an honorable mention All-American selection in 2002, and was a First-team junior college All-American as a sophomore in 2003. Considered a four-star recruit out of junior college by ''

Rivals.com Rivals.com is a network of websites that focus mainly on college football and basketball recruiting in the United States. The network was started in 1998 and employs more than 300 personnel. History Rivals.com was founded in 1998 by Jim Heckma ...

'', Soliai was listed as the No. 32 non-high school player in the nation.

Utah

Soliai transferred to the University of Utah in 2004 and was

redshirt Redshirt, Red Shirt, or Redshirts may refer to: Entertainment * ''Red Shirts'' (film), a 1952 film about Anita Garibaldi by Franco Rossi * Redshirt (stock character), originally derived from ''Star Trek'', a stock character who dies soon after ...

ed his first season. He played in 12 games as a junior in 2005, with up five tackles, 1.5 of which were for a loss. He made four stops against rival

Utah State Utah State University (USU or Utah State) is a public land-grant research university in Logan, Utah. It is accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities. With nearly 20,000 students living on or near campus, USU is Utah's ...

, including an assisted tackle for a loss. He also had a 10-yard sack against

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

. In 12 games at nose guard as a senior in 2006, Soliai recorded 35 tackles (13 solo), 3.5 tackles for a loss, two sacks for 15 yards, four pass break-ups, a forced fumble, a fumble recovery and a blocked kick. He earned a Second-team All-

Mountain West Conference The Mountain West Conference (MW) is one of the collegiate athletic conferences affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) (formerly I-A). The MW officially began operations ...

selection.

Professional career

2007 NFL Draft

In April 2007, Soliai measured a height of 6-feet-4 and a weight of 332 pounds at his Utah Pro Day. He ran the 40-yard dash in 5.02seconds and 5.12 seconds, the short shuttle in 4.53 seconds and the three-cone drill in 7.77 seconds. He measured a 30½-inch vertical jump, but an

elbow The elbow is the region between the arm and the forearm that surrounds the elbow joint. The elbow includes prominent landmarks such as the olecranon, the cubital fossa (also called the chelidon, or the elbow pit), and the lateral and the me ...

sprain prevented him from doing the 225-pound bench press. Prior to the draft, Soliai was praised for his rare size, strength, quickness and athleticism, while also being criticized for his lack of technique and moves.

Miami Dolphins

Soliai was drafted by the Miami Dolphins in the fourth round (108th overall) of the 2007 NFL Draft, signing a four-year contract on June 7. Before the NFL lockout, Soliai was

franchise tag In the National Football League (NFL), the franchise tag is a designation a team may apply to a player scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent. The tag binds the player to the team for one year if certain conditions are met. Each team has on ...

ged by the Dolphins. They gave him a one-year guaranteed salary of at least $12 million, which was the average of the top 5 salaries at that position. This was made bloated by Albert Haynesworth's record-breaking $100 million contract from the Redskins. On January 24, 2012, Soliai was added to the AFC Pro Bowl Roster to replace Ravens defensive tackle

Haloti Ngata Etuini Haloti Ngata (; born January 21, 1984) is a former American football defensive tackle. He played college football for the University of Oregon and earned consensus All-American honors. Ngata was drafted by the Baltimore Ravens in the firs ...

. On March 14, 2012, Soliai signed a 2-year extension with Miami worth $12 million, with $6 million guaranteed for the 2012 and 2013 seasons.

Atlanta Falcons

On March 11, 2014, Soliai agreed to terms with the Atlanta Falcons on a five-year, $33 million contract including $14 million guaranteed. In a week 8 game against the Detroit Lions at

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 2002 to 2003. The stadium ...

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, Soliai was called for a holding penalty against Lions center

Dominic Raiola Dominic Raiola (; born December 30, 1978) is a former American football center. He was a second-round pick of the Detroit Lions in the 2001 NFL Draft, and played his entire 14-year career for the Lions of the National Football League (NFL). Pr ...

. This penalty set up kicker

Matt Prater Matthew Phillip Prater (born August 10, 1984) is an American football placekicker for the Arizona Cardinals of the National Football League (NFL). Regarded as one of the best long distance kickers in NFL history, he held the NFL record for lon ...

for a game-winning 47 yard field goal, which he made, handing the Falcons a 22-21 loss and dropping them to a 2-5 record. On December 29, 2015 Soliai was placed on injured reserve ending his season. On March 9, 2016, the Atlanta Falcons cut Soliai.

Carolina Panthers

Soliai signed with the

on March 14, 2016. On February 21, 2017, Soliai was released by the Panthers.

Retirement

On April 19, 2018, Soliai signed a one-day contract to retire as a member of the Dolphins.

References

External links

Carolina Panthers bioAtlanta Falcons bioMiami Dolphins bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Soliai, Paul 1983 births American Conference Pro Bowl players American football defensive tackles American sportspeople of Samoan descent People from Pago Pago Atlanta Falcons players Carolina Panthers players Coffeyville Red Ravens football players Living people Miami Dolphins players Players of American football from California Sportspeople from Santa Ana, California Utah Utes football players Players of American football from American Samoa Ed Block Courage Award recipients