October 22, 2025
An growing variety of NFL alums are taking an surprising profession route after their taking part in days by getting into the nursing career.
D’Brickashaw Ferguson, former New York Jets offensive deal with, and Patrick Hill, former Tennessee Titans fullback and operating again, are amongst an growing variety of retired NFL gamers who have pursued careers in nursing after leaving skilled soccer.
Whereas many NFL retirees usually transition into sports activities broadcasting, teaching, monetary literacy, instructing, actual property, or legislation enforcement, nursing is rising as a rising possibility. Though precise numbers aren’t obtainable, at the least 5 present and former gamers have publicly shared their option to pursue nursing throughout or after their NFL careers.
“Nursing is a more moderen space,” Tracy Perlman, senior vice chairman of participant operations on the NFL, instructed The New York Occasions.
This previous spring, Ferguson, 41, earned his nursing diploma from Thomas Jefferson College in Philadelphia and now works at RWJBarnabas Well being in New Jersey, persevering with the household legacy of his mom and grandmother, each nurses. Hill serves as an inpatient psychiatric nurse at UCLA Medical Heart and has expertise in varied intensive care items.
Hill, 37, credit the “psychological toughness and resiliency” developed in soccer for serving to him thrive in nursing, a discipline that mirrors the teamwork and full engagement he skilled on the sphere.
“Two minutes of CPR is the longest two minutes you’ll most likely ever do,” he stated, evaluating it to the “intense, hyper-focused” mindset gamers get throughout the two-minute warning, the automated timeout on the finish of the second and fourth quarters in each NFL recreation.
Clyde Edwards-Helaire, 26, a operating again on the Kansas Metropolis Chiefs’ observe squad, additionally comes from a nursing household. Watching his mom look after his youthful sister Maddee, who has congenital muscular dystrophy, impressed his curiosity within the discipline. He’s now balancing soccer with faculty and is on observe to earn his bachelor’s diploma in nursing subsequent summer season.
Chandler Brayboy, 24, a large receiver for the Jacksonville Jaguars, earned his nursing diploma final 12 months whereas taking part in within the NFL. His curiosity in healthcare started in highschool after a well being science class taught him about Parkinson’s illness, prompting him to acknowledge the “pill-rolling” tremor in his grandfather and assist him get identified. Brayboy plans to pursue a profession as a crucial care nurse after retiring from soccer.
Brayboy’s give attention to crucial care displays a pattern highlighted in a 2024 NurseJournal report, which discovered male nurses usually tend to pursue fast-paced specialties like emergency and important care that demand adaptability, bodily stamina, and fast problem-solving. The variety of males in nursing has slowly risen, growing by 8% over the previous decade, serving to to problem long-standing stigmas which have stored males at roughly 13% of registered nurses.
“That is superior for boys to see,” stated Dr. Jason Mott, a professor on the College of Wisconsin Oshkosh School of Nursing and president of the American Affiliation for Males in Nursing.
Nathaniel Hughes, 40, performed vast receiver for 4 NFL groups, together with the Jacksonville Jaguars and Detroit Lions. Frequent hospital visits from soccer accidents sparked his curiosity in well being care. He earned a bachelor’s diploma in nursing in 2008, earlier than being drafted, and accomplished his grasp’s in nursing in 2015 whereas nonetheless taking part in.
After seven years as a nurse, Dr. Hughes attended medical faculty and is now an anesthesiologist. Even together with his medical profession, he typically struggles to go away his former professional footballer life-style behind.
“You recognize loads of little nuances {that a} regular one that simply watches soccer wouldn’t,” Hughes stated. “Folks can decide up actual fast in your soccer I.Q. simply by your lingo. So they begin taking a look at you want, ‘Yo, you play ball?’”
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