An NFL player who recently made history has announced his retirement. Carl Nassib went to Instagram on Wednesday to reveal he’s ending his NFL career after playing in the league for seven years. In 2021, Nassib came out and became the first openly gay player in the NFL.
“It really feels like just yesterday starting out as a walk-on at Penn State,” Nassib wrote. “Football has given me more than I ever could have imagined. I can truly hang up my helmet for the last time knowing I gave it everything I had.” Nassib, 30, spent last season with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers after signing a one-year contract with the team. In an interview with PEOPLE, Nassib said he began considering retiring after finding himself “staying at the Bucs facility until 9 p.m. every night working on Rayze,” an app he founded that connects people with nonprofit organizations looking for donations and volunteers.
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“I feel like it’s my calling and it’s what I’m meant to do,” Nassib told PEOPLE. “I’m really excited to move on to the next chapter of my life and to give Rayze everything that I have.” Nassib also said, “I think that I can provide a very rare and specific view of how life is for an out gay player, and I think that there are some amazing opportunities that I can also learn.”
Nassib announced he was gay in June 2021 while playing for the Las Vegas Raiders. At the time, Nassib said, “I’m a pretty private person so I hope you guys know that I’m not doing this for attention. I just think that representation and visibility are so important. I actually hope that one day, videos like this and the whole coming out process are not necessary, but until then I will do my best and my part to cultivate a culture that’s accepting and compassionate and I’m going to start by donating $100,000 to the Trevor Project. They’re an incredible organization, they’re the number one suicide-prevention service for LGBTQ youth in America.”
Nassib was selected by the Cleveland Browns in the third round of the 2016 NFL Draft. He spent two seasons in Cleveland before joining the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2018. Nassib then signed with the Raiders in 2020, and in his career, Nassib recorded 187 tackles and 25.5 sacks in 99 games.
