The NFL world was caught by surprise when then 26-year-old running back Rashard Mendenhall suddenly announced his retirement following the 2013 season.
Mendenhall was a first-round draft pick of the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2008. He played for five seasons for the team before landing with the Arizona Cardinals to finish out his NFL career in 2013.
Mendenhall, who made approximately $13.8 during his NFL career, joined the Writers Guild of America. He announced recently that he’s working as a writer for the HBO miniseries Ballers—a show that just debuted on HBO this past weekend.
Ballers stars Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, who plays an ex-NFL player turned agent. The show has been largely compared the HBO series Entourage.
Mendenhall reports that transitioning from playing football to becoming a writer has been easy because it’s something he has always wanted to do.
“I’ve always known I wanted to write. It was always a passion of mine — it was peace, a getaway. It was also, even while I was playing, it was kind of an artist mentality. You have a day job, but the art that you’re working on is what you really want to do,” the former NFL running back said, via USA Today Sports. “I knew that when I was done playing, that’s what I was going to do. It was kind of always a thing behind [football], I just didn’t know what to what extent in television or see how it was going to shape up.”
Completely changing career paths is something that is not always simple for football players. Mendenhall recently wrote a column for the Huffington Post that claims it wasn’t an issue for him.
“I wasn’t supposed to walk away from the NFL, but I did. I wasn’t supposed to be writing television, but I am. I’m supposed to be lost after football. I’m not. I’ve reinvented myself. This is my first transformation. I’m supposed to be broke right now, or maybe the statistics say five years from now. Either way, I’m not even close. I’m not supposed to be anything but a football player. But really, I’m just a guy who used to play football. There’s a reason I’m doing this.”
You’ve got to hand it to Mendenhall, who has his head screwed on straight at the young age of 28. He is part of a growing group of former NFL players who have retired before or at the age of 30 to pursue other interests and/or preserve their health. That group recently added Chris Borland, Anthony Davis, Jake Locker, Patrick Willis and Jason Worilds.
Mendenhall reports that he would like to continue writing for Ballers should the show be picked up for a second season.