Oday Aboushi

Oday Aboushi (born June 5, 1991) is an American football offensive guard for the Detroit Lions of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the University of Virginia and was selected by the New York Jets in the fifth round of the 2013 NFL Draft. He has also played for the Houston Texans, Seattle Seahawks, Oakland Raiders, and Arizona Cardinals.

Early years
Aboushi was born in Brooklyn, New York on June 5, 1991. He attended Xaverian High School in Brooklyn, where he was a member of the Xaverian Clippers high school football team.

College career
Aboushi attended the University of Virginia, where he played for the Virginia Cavaliers football team from 2009 to 2012. During his college career, he started 37 of 43 games in which he appeared. As a senior in 2012, he was a first-team All-Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) selection.

New York Jets
The New York Jets selected Aboushi in the fifth round, with the 141st overall pick, of the 2013 NFL Draft. The Jets signed him to a four-year rookie contract on May 10, 2013; financial terms were not disclosed. Aboushi played in all 4 preseason games in 2013 but no regular season games. In 2014, Aboushi started 10 games from Week 7 through Week 17, drawing his first start at left guard on Thursday Night Football against the New England Patriots. Aboushi was released by the Jets on September 15, 2015.

Houston Texans
The Houston Texans claimed Aboushi off of waivers on September 16, 2015. The Texans' offensive line coach, Mike Devlin, was Aboushi's former position coach with the Jets.

Seattle Seahawks
On March 17, 2017, Aboushi signed with the Seattle Seahawks. He started eight games at right guard before suffering a shoulder injury in Week 15. He was placed on injured reserve on December 13, 2017.

Oakland Raiders
On July 28, 2018, Aboushi signed with the Oakland Raiders reuniting him with his previous year Offensive Line coach Tom Cable. He was released on September 1, 2018.

Arizona Cardinals
On October 23, 2018, Aboushi signed with the Arizona Cardinals.

Detroit Lions
On March 14, 2019, Aboushi signed a one-year, $2 million contract with the Detroit Lions.

Personal life
Aboushi is the ninth of ten children born to Palestinian parents who immigrated to New York from Beit Hanina, a Palestinian neighborhood of East Jerusalem. Aboushi speaks English and some Arabic.

He is also a practicing Muslim, one of few in the NFL. During Ramadan, which fell every year during training camp season at Virginia, he fasted from dawn to sunset every day. He was one of almost a dozen Muslim athletes honored by the U.S. Department of State for his contributions in 2011. He is one of the first Palestinian players in the NFL.

On July 12, 2013, the Anti-Defamation League issued a press release defending Aboushi after an article circulating online claimed he was a 'Muslim extremist'. ADL defended Aboushi's right to take 'pride in his Palestinian heritage' and emphatically stated that being pro-Palestinian is in no way equivalent to being anti-Semitic or a Muslim extremist.

In 2014 and 2015, Aboushi traveled to Sudan with the Islamic Medical Association of North America (IMANA) to help repair cleft lips and cleft palates in the impoverished East African nation. Working with the IMANA SaveSmile team, Aboushi helped to perform surgery that adjusted muscles and connected tissues allowing full lips to form in place of cleft palates.