John Wolford could finally remove his LinkedIn profile after the NFL player made a historic debut as a quarterback for the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday. At the very least, Wolford can update his resume to show that in addition to his experience as a private equity analyst, he has now helped an NFL team reach the playoffs.
Wolford, who has come a long way to get started in the NFL, joked before starting his first start: “If this Sunday goes well, maybe I’ll eliminate him,” he said of his LinkedIn profile. “I guess when I was young in college, I would say,‘ I probably need to do this, ’” he said Wednesday.
After all, despite leading Sunday night’s 18-7 win over the Arizona Cardinals, securing a place in the playoffs in Los Angeles, just two years ago, Wolford wasn’t sure if he would play in the NFL. The former Wake Forest quarterback was unwritten and was starting a career in finance, until the Jets called, that is.
After finishing a relatively successful college career in 2018 (Wolford was captain of the Wake Forest team and earned honors for all ACCs on the second team), Wolford received some interest from NFL scouts, but he was not yet among the 13 quarterbacks selected in that year’s NFL draft. So, with a summer internship with a privately held company in 2017, Wolford prepared to start a career in finance after college.
Wolford lined up a job with North Carolina private equity firm Teall Capital, which would begin in August 2018. But just three days before he began working as a private equity analyst, Wolford received a called the New York Jets, who ended up signing him as an unwritten free agent during the team’s training camp. Wolford played a preseason game that summer before the Jets cut him off to make way for another free agent quarterback on the team roster.
Wolford returned to North Carolina to work for Teall Capital for about six months before being invited to join the American Football Alliance (AAF), a short-lived NFL rival who played only a season earlier. to file for bankruptcy in April 2019. Wolford played quarterback for the Arizona Hotshots, one of eight teams in the league, and his game caught the attention of the Rams’ head office (Wolford was named twice the AAF player of the week).
In August 2019, Los Angeles signed Wolford to the team’s training squad (where players are not on the team’s official roster, but earn more than $ 8,000 a week). But as the 2020 season draws to a close, the Rams added Wolford to the roster as backup quarterback Jared Goff, who was the first overall pick in the 2016 NFL Draft and earned $ 33.5 million per year. (By comparison, Wolford is earning the NFL league minimum wage this season, $ 610,000, along with a bonus of signing $ 150,000, according to Spotrac. Wolford continues to sign with the Rams for next season, too, when he would win a base salary of $ 780,000.)
That means Wolford, 25, waited on the bench until Sunday, when he started as a quarterback for injured Goff.
With this game, Wolford made history the first quarterback to start his first career in the last game of a team’s season with the playoffs online. And, despite throwing an interception on his first pitching game, Wolford bounced back and became the first NFL quarterback to throw at least 200 yards and run at least 50 more yards in his first career start.
Now, Wolford’s initial success as a Rams quarterback could even lead to another early career: starting in a playoff game. Rams head coach Sean McVay said after Sunday’s game that he is “not sure” whether regular starter Goff will be able to return from a thumbs injury in time for next Saturday’s playoff game with Seattle Seahawks. Wolford would start again if Goff is still unavailable.
After the Cardinals’ defeat on Sunday, Wolford told reporters he would celebrate the victory as he planned as if he could play again next week. “I’m here to do a job …” he said, noting that he’s not sure if Goff will be healthy enough or not to play. “I try to enjoy that win and then I’ll put my head down and work in Seattle.”
However, when asked if he’s ready to remove his LinkedIn profile after Sunday’s win, Wolford offered ESPN an answer that suggests he doesn’t take his career as a player for granted.
“Football ends at some point,” he said. “So I will probably keep it [the LinkedIn profile] up “.
For now, however, Wolford’s LinkedIn profile lists him as a “professional athlete” and “quarterback for the Los Angeles Rams.”
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