National Football League

Carl Nassib, first openly gay active NFL player, announces retirement

Updated Sep. 25, 2023 8:57 p.m. ET

Carl Nassib, who became the first openly gay active NFL player when he came out in 2021, announced his retirement from professional football in an Instagram post Wednesday.

The 30-year-old Nassib said in the post that he will focus on building his company Rayze, which produces an app described as a philanthropy-oriented platform that "uses positive social media to simplify the way we give back."

He will also continue working with the NFL in an unspecified role dealing with "matters of diversity, equity and inclusion" and philanthropy, according to People magazine.

After making the team as a walk-on at Penn State, Nassib was picked in the third round of the 2016 NFL Draft by the Cleveland Browns. The defensive end played for the Browns, Las Vegas Raiders and Tampa Bay Buccaneers over his seven NFL seasons and had 25.5 sacks, 187 tackles and 59 quarterback hits.

He came out while with the Raiders in 2021 and spent last season in Tampa Bay on a second stint with the Bucs.

"This is a bittersweet moment for me," Nassib said on Instagram. "Football has given me more than I could have ever imagined. … I feel like the luckiest guy on the planet."

In both his post and when speaking to People, Nassib said he loved the competitive and perfectionistic nature of playing football and plans to take that mentality as he focuses on building his company.

Nassib also told People that he plans to keep supporting the Trevor Project, a nonprofit geared toward supporting health for young LGBTQ+ people, and he praised the way the NFL has supported both him and the Trevor Project since he came out.

"They've supported me so much over the last two years, and I really couldn't have done it without that support," Nassib said. "The NFL went out of their way to support me, to support the Trevor Project, and to show how the impact of how one person doing something for others can be compounded."

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