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John Wolford may finally be able to delete his LinkedIn profile after the NFL player made his historic debut as a starting quarterback for the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday. At the very least, Wolford can update his resume to show that in addition to his background as a private equity analyst, he has now helped an NFL team reach the playoffs.
Wolford, who has taken a long way to debut in the NFL, joked before making his first start: “If this Sunday goes well maybe I will just delete it,” he said of the LinkedIn profile. “I guess when I was a junior in college I was like, ‘I probably need to do this,'” he said Wednesday.
After all, despite Sunday’s 18-7 win over the Arizona Cardinals securing Los Angeles a playoff berth just two years ago, Wolford wasn’t sure he would play in the NFL. The former Wake Forest quarterback was undrafted and was starting a career in finance – until the Jets called him, that is.
After completing a relatively successful college career in 2018 (Wolford was the captain of the Wake Forest team and won second-team All-ACC honors), Wolford has garnered some interest from NFL scouts. , but was still not among the 13 quarterbacks selected in this year’s NFL Draft. So, with a summer internship at a private equity firm in 2017 under his belt, Wolford prepared to embark on a career in finance after college.
Wolford found a job with North Carolina private equity firm Teall Capital which he was due to start in August 2018. But just three days before he started working as a private equity analyst Wolford got a call from the Jets. of New York, who ended up signing him as an undrafted free agent during the team’s training camp. Wolford played in a preseason game that summer before the Jets cut him to make room for another free agent quarterback on the squad roster.
Wolford returned to North Carolina to work at Teall Capital for about six months before being invited to join the Alliance of American Football (AAF), a short-lived NFL rival who only played one season. before filing for bankruptcy in April 2019. Wolford played quarterback for the Arizona Hotshots, one of the league’s eight teams, and his game caught the attention of the Rams front office (Wolford was named two times AAF player of the week).
In August 2019, Los Angeles signed Wolford to the team’s practice squad (where players are not on the official team roster but earn over $ 8,000 per week). But at the start of the 2020 season, the Rams added Wolford to the roster as a replacement for starting quarterback Jared Goff, who was the No. 1 overall selection in the 2016 NFL Draft and earns $ 33.5 million a year. (By comparison, Wolford earns the NFL league minimum wage this season, $ 610,000, as well as a signing bonus of $ 150,000, according to Spotrac. Wolford also remains under contract with the Rams for next season, while he would earn a base salary of $ 780,000.)
This means Wolford, 25, waited on the bench until Sunday, when he started as a quarterback for injured Goff.
With this game, Wolford made history as the first quarterback to make his first career start in a team’s final game of the season with the playoffs on the line. And despite an interception in his first pitching the game, Wolford rebounded to become 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 career: a playoff debut. Rams head coach Sean McVay said after Sunday’s game he “didn’t know” if regular starter Goff would be able to come back from a thumb injury in time for Saturday’s playoff game. next with the Seattle Seahawks. Wolford would potentially do it again if Goff remains unavailable.
After the Cardinals’ loss on Sunday, Wolford told reporters he would celebrate the victory while planning as if he could play again next week. “I’m here to do a job…” he said, noting that he wasn’t sure whether or not Goff was healthy enough to play. “I’m just trying to take advantage of this win, then I’ll put my head down and work in Seattle.”
However, when asked if he was ready to delete his LinkedIn profile after Sunday’s victory, Wolford offered ESPN a response suggesting he didn’t take his playing career for granted.
“Football stops at some point,” he said. “So I’ll probably keep [the LinkedIn profile] to the top. “
For now, however, Wolford’s LinkedIn profile lists him as a “Professional Athlete” and “Quarterback for the Los Angeles Rams.”
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