Home / gay topics / Are there any gay nfl football players
Wade Davis
Former NFL cornerback Wade Davis is a renowned activist and spokesperson who played in the league between 2000 to 2003. He told ESPN his declining play may have been due to the pressures of hiding who he was. He's now married.
Ryan Russell (2015-18)
Photo by Tom Szczerbowski/Getty Images
Russell isn't gay.
During his long NFL career, he played for the New England Patriots until 2008 and would later play three seasons with the Kansas City Chiefs.
It was years after his professional retirement that O’Callaghan revealed himself to be gay in an interview with OutSports. He died of AIDS complications in 1986, becoming the first former pro athlete known to die of AIDS.
He told The Washington Post 51 days before he died that he was battling the disease because he wanted some good to come from it.
Ray McDonald (1967-68)
AP Photo/JRT
Washington's first-round pick in 1967, Ray McDonald didn't have a lengthy career but had a tragic story.
He was "late" to a team meeting by coach Vince Lombardi's standards in 1969, and that cost him his job.
“Football is for everyone and since I came out in August of 2019, I have dedicated myself to ensuring that is the case.”
2. I’ve been meaning to do this for a while now but finally feel comfortable getting it off my chest,” he said on the live. Here are the top 10 NFL players who have publicly come out as gay breaking the barriers of social norms and paving way for inclusivity in the league.
Explore:Top 10 richest NFL players of all time
10.
The player would have a short stint with the Raiders before moving to the Florida Tuskers of the United Football League. He started his career after graduating from Weber State University where he played college football.
Davis went undrafted in the 2000 NFL draft and signed with the Tennessee Titans as an undrafted free agent, but was waived after training camp.
Much like Smith, McDonald died of AIDS complications in 1993. However, 32 of them said they had teammates or coaches use a homophobic slur and 25 said an openly gay player would feel comfortable in an NFL locker room.
Nassib was far from the first gay player to wear an NFL uniform, he's merely just the first one to come out while playing.
Yet for the third consecutive season, there will be none in 2025.
Carl Nassib was No. 16 and the first one to come out as gay while on an active roster. He would play five seasons with the franchise before signing with the Oakland Raiders in 2008. Jeff Rhorer
Jeffery Charles Rohrer played in the NFL between 1982 to 1989 as a linebacker for the Dallas Cowboys.
but it is in gay years."
Brad Thorson (2011)
Stephen Nowland/NCAA Photos via Getty Images
A lineman at Kansas and Wisconsin in college, Thorson attended training camp with the Arizona Cardinals in 2011. During his career, he played as a guard for the New York Giants and played a one-season stint with the Washington Redskins.
Kopay published his best-selling autobiography, ‘The David Kopay Story‘ in 1977. In 1968, he was arrested for "having sex with a man in public." Soon after, that's when Lombardi warned players to not give him any crap for being gay.
“I just wanted to take a quick moment to say that I’m gay.
His former teammate, David Kopay, revealed in his 1977 book that the two once had a fling, essentially outing Smith and confirming his sexuality. But now that I have come out it rarely crosses my mind.