Tommy Eichenberg excited to play brother, Liam, for the first time when Raiders take the field in Miami

Nov 16, 2024 at 10:00 AM

Carter Owen

Digital Content Associate

Sunday's road game against the Miami Dolphins will be a family affair for Raiders rookie linebacker Tommy Eichenberg.

His older brother, Liam Eichenberg, is an offensive lineman for the Dolphins with 47 starts in 52 games played since Miami selected him with the 42nd overall of the 2021 NFL Draft.

This weekend will mark the first time the two brothers have ever played a football game with or against each other.

"It's definitely really cool," said Tommy Eichenberg. "It hasn't hit me yet, but it probably will once we get out there."

"I know my mom is excited," Liam told the Palm Beach Post. "I'm excited too."

As the younger sibling, Tommy credits Liam for paving their path to the pros. Liam ultimately signed with Notre Dame and became a four-year letterman (2017-20) and three-year starter for the Fighting Irish.

Tommy wound up at Ohio State and played in 41 career games with 27 starts over five seasons for the Buckeyes. In 2023, he was named the Butkus-Fitzgerald Big Ten Linebacker of the Year and earned his second consecutive First-Team All-Big Ten Conference honor after recording 82 tackles and 1.5 tackles for loss.

"Once he started getting offers, I think that kind of changed the whole dynamic of what I wanted to do with my life really," he said. "He got offered by Ohio State pretty early. I was young and I was like, that's what I want to do now.

"When you have an older brother, you kind of watch every single thing that he does, and you do that. Every single thing that he says, when I was young, I believed I and I listened to it. He always said it, 'Believe'. For a while I'm like, 'yeah, whatever'. Then when I applied that, I became a lot better."

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Now that they've both made it to the NFL, the two brothers have grown closer being bonded by their professional and personal experiences.

"Sometimes we do talk about football, just pick each other's brains," Tommy said. "But other times just – because we both go through the same stuff, we understand it. There's not a lot of people, even in our family, that understand it. But we do, so it's special."

Eichenberg made his first career start against Denver in Week 5 and has four tackles (three solo) in six games played this season. He's also contributed on special teams with six tackles (four solo). Entering Week 11 of his first NFL season, Tommy is also working to gather as much knowledge as he can from the Raiders' experienced coaching staff and linebackers room.

"He's a great teacher," Tommy said of veteran linebacker Robert Spillane, who's locker sits next to the rookie. "Everything he says, I write down everything. I try to apply it."

"I've learned so much from all these guys. I see football completely differently."

When the Silver and Black take the field in South Florida on Sunday, it will be another opportunity for the Cleveland, Ohio native to put those notes to use. Additionally, it will be a chance for the Eichenberg family as a whole to celebrate the brothers' accomplishments.

"We've got like 80 people coming," Tommy added with a huge grin.