By Amanda Pirkowski
Medill Reports
NEW ORLEANS – Former players changed out their pads for new uniforms – suits and ties – before entering the NFL Player Care Foundation Super Bowl Career Fair. Carrying briefcases and resumes, they searched for a next step after a career in football.
With the postseason coming to a close, the NFL Player Care Foundation held its seventh career fair during Super Bowl week. Former players took professional headshots and shook hands with recruiters representing various companies, from tech to sales.
The foundation hosted the event to help athletes move from the football field to the workforce, as NFL players often face the transition out of their sport earlier in life than other professional athletes — the average retirement age for MLB players is 29.5, followed by 28.2 for NHL players, 28 for NBA players and 27.6 for NFL players, according to data from RBC Wealth Management.
“I think it’s a little bit more stressful when you realize you’re only in your late 20s, or early 30s if you’re lucky, when you’re done playing,” said Jeffrey “J.J.” Dielman, a former NFL guard. “There’s a good percentage of us that don’t have retirement money when you’re done. Starting something new can be daunting, and it kind of was for a little bit.”
To make this transition more manageable for players, companies such as Fox Sports, Entergy, Atrium, Verizon, Fanatics, FedEx, PepsiCo and Amazon met with players one-on-one during the networking event.
Misha Linn, an Amazon technical recruiter at the career fair, said she appreciates the “translatable skills” former players have, which match Amazon’s 16 leadership principles and make athletes strong candidates for positions in the workforce.
“Those leadership principles are things that athletes definitely have, like the ability to earn trust, the ability to dive deep into problems, the ownership capabilities,” Linn said. “They’re not gonna necessarily be blaming somebody else, like they’re gonna take accountability of what they’re doing. So, our leadership principles are very translatable to what they’ve already done and what they will do in the future.”
As an example, Linn said former Indianapolis Colts running back Dan Moore worked on her team at Amazon and showcased these qualities.
“Being a good team player, he also was willing to bring problems forward to the team,” Linn said. “Very sociable. Somebody that always showed up.”
Another former NFL player, Zebrie Sanders, represented Verizon as a talent scout at the fair. After suffering a hip injury during his rookie year with the Buffalo Bills, Sanders attended a program where the Player Care Foundation partnered with Microsoft Leap for a 16-week technological training.
The skills gained through that collaboration, combined with those developed through athletics, led him to a position with Verizon as a business data analyst.
Sanders said he now enjoys helping other former players at hiring summits.
“I feel like it’s very powerful because, one, it gives you the chance to talk to employers that you don’t have a connection with,” Sanders said about the hiring network. “Now you can put a face to it. Introduce yourself. It’s now maybe a warm lead instead of a cold lead.”
After the groundwork laid at the career fair, the NFL Player Care Foundation recommends follow-up on both sides.
“We encourage all of the players to send thank-you’s and apply to roles that they see, that they’ve talked about – so really take that next step,” said A.J. Forbes, the coordinator of retired player programs at the NFL.
“Additionally, we ask our partners to do the same thing,” Forbes continued. “If they had made connections with players and had them apply for roles, follow up with them. Have those conversations. Set up something to build momentum on afterwards because this is the one event throughout the year where it just generates an unforeseen amount of momentum for players’ careers.”
Amanda Pirkowski is a graduate student at Medill, specializing in sports media. You can follow her on Twitter/X at @amandapirkowski.
