Carl Nassib, one of coach James Franklin’s first stars at Penn State, has retired from the NFL, he announced via Instagram Wednesday morning.
Nassib played in the league for seven seasons, spending time with the Browns (2016-17), Buccaneers (2018-19, 22) and Raiders (2020-21).
He started games in all but one of those years, the most being in 2017 when he started 12 games for the 0-16 Browns.
But Nassib is probably best known for becoming the first openly gay NFL player to play in a regular season game, which he did in 2021 when he played for the Raiders. In his statement announcing his retirement, Nassib wrote that he was retiring to focus on his company, Rayze. Per the Associated Press, Rayze is an “app that links people to each other and to nonprofits that appeal to their interests or are based where they live. Nassib is the creator.
Nassib also wrote that it “really feels like just yesterday starting out as a walk-on at Penn State.”
Add Nittany Sports Now as a preferred source in Google! Click here to add us.The West Chester, Pennsylvania, native came to Penn State without a scholarship after lettering three seasons at Malvern Prep. He redshirted his first college season and didn’t play in his second one. Nassib only started one season at Penn State, and he made the most of it.
In 2015, Nassib broke the school’s single-season sack record with 15.5 and earned consensus All-America honors. He won the Lombardi Award (nation’s top lineman/linebacker) and the Ted Hendricks Award (top defensive end).
Now, Nassib appears to be moving on.
“It was always by dream to play in the NFL,” he wrote, “and I really feel like the luckiest guy on the planet.”
