From Africa to the NFL: Why 27-year-old Jeffrey M’ba is the Commanders’ most intriguing rookie

CBS Sports | American Football | 05/13/2026

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The undrafted defensive lineman begins his NFL journey in Washington, armed with rare perspective and untapped upside

By Ryan Wilson

When you get past the “can’t-miss prospects” and “Day 2 steals,” you arrive at the sleepers – those who may have been overlooked for one reason or another but occasionally end up having productive NFL careers. Dig further still and you’ll find the deep sleepers — names who look the part physically, or test through the roof, but lack either experience or youth or some other factor that might keep them from getting drafted.

Enter Jeffrey M’ba.

At 6-foot-5 and weighing anywhere from 290 to 330 pounds depending on the school and the scheme, M’ba is a physically imposing, “get-off-the-bus first” defensive lineman who looks like he was created in a lab. The former SMU standout had a great week of practice at the Senior Bowl, which came on the heels of a solid 2025 season.

He still went undrafted.

The reason isn’t complicated. M’ba turned 27 in April, and he’s still relatively new to football. For many teams, that combination of age and inexperience was enough to pass. But Washington signed him as an undrafted free agent, and M’ba will begin his NFL journey in earnest on Friday when the Commanders begin rookie minicamp.

The reality is that M’ba faces an improbable road. If 350-400 undrafted free agents sign following the conclusion of the draft, history tells us that roughly 10% of them will make final 53-man rosters in September. But long odds are nothing new for M’ba. ´

And to understand the player, you have to understand his journey — a trek that spans three continents, four languages and a relentless pursuit of a dream that, for a long time, didn’t even have a name.

A global odyssey

M’ba’s story begins in Gabon, on Africa’s west coast, where he lived his childhood on the move, stitched together by a mix of sports and constant change.

“I moved to France when I was four years old,” M’ba told me at the Senior Bowl. His upbringing was a revolving door of cultures; he moved from France to Cameroon at age 13 — a country he describes as a unique linguistic melting pot due to its colonial history with Germany, France and the United Kingdom.

“One part of the country speaks French, one part of the country speaks English, and in the north they speak a little bit of German as well.”

This international upbringing didn’t just sharpen his mind; it helped shape him into the athlete he would become. Long before he shed double-teams in the ACC, M’ba dabbled in a little bit of everything athletically. “I played a lot of different sports and that’s what makes me so versatile. I did track, I did bike, I did judo. A little bit of horse riding.”

Missing from the list: American football.

M’ba grew up playing soccer. Basketball was briefly suggested but quickly dismissed — “I was just too bad at it,” he said with a laugh. It wasn’t until he returned to France as a teenager that he discovered the American version of football. And it wasn’t long before he made the biggest bet of his life — on himself; after just one year, he decided to leave for the United States to commit to a future he knew next to nothing about.

All alone in a foreign country

The leap M’ba took at 18 years old is one almost anyone of any age would find paralyzing. He didn’t move with his family or have a safety net. He arrived in Baltimore, Maryland, to attend the powerhouse St. Frances Academy. He arrived with the freakish athletic traits that prompted his move in the first place but barely spoke the language, making the transition even tougher.

“I’m all alone here,” M’ba said, reflecting on those early days. “I went to high school in Baltimore… they couldn’t keep me because [of visa issues]. I wasn’t really speaking fluent English when I came. I got [basic English] in France, but in France is nothing compared to when you come to Baltimore.”

The culture shock was secondary to the bureaucratic headache of being an international student athlete. Between visa issues and school transfers — moving from Baltimore to another prep school, St. Thomas More in Connecticut — M’ba wondered if his career was stalling out before it even got off the ground.