John Wolford could finally remove his LinkedIn profile after the NFL player made a historic debut as the 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 experience as a private equity analyst, he has now also helped an NFL team make the playoffs.
Wolford, who has come a long way in starting in the NFL, joked before making his first start: “If this Sunday might go well, I’ll just remove it,” he said on the LinkedIn profile. “I think when I was a junior in college, I was like, ‘I should probably make it,'” he said Wednesday.
Despite the lead of Sunday’s 18-7 victory over the Arizona Cardinals, which secured Los Angeles a spot in the playoffs just two years ago, Wolford was not at all sure if he would play in the NFL at all. The former Wake Forest full-back was not drafted and started a career in finance – until the Jets called, that is.
After completing a relatively successful college career in 2018 (Wolford was the team captain of Wake Forest and earned the second team All-ACC honor), Wolford received some interest from NFL scouts, but he was still not one of the 13 quarterbacks selected in that year’s NFL draft. With a summer internship at a private equity firm in 2017, Wolford was willing to pursue a career in finance after college.
Wolford set up a position with private equity firm Teall Capital in North Carolina that he would start in August 2018. But just three days before he was to start working as a private equity analyst, Wolford received a call from the New York Jets, who eventually signed him up as an unknown free agent during the team’s practice camp. Wolford played in one preseason game that summer before the Jets cut him to make room for another free-back in the team.
Wolford returned to North Carolina about six months ago to work for Teall Capital before being invited to join the Alliance of American Football (AAF), a short-lived NFL rival who played just one season before joining April 2019 filed for bankruptcy. Wolford played quarterback for the Arizona Hotshots, one of the eight teams in the league, and his game attracted the attention of the Rams’ front office (Wolford was named AAF Player of the Week twice).
In August 2019, Los Angeles signed Wolford to the team’s practice group (where players are not on the team’s official list, but earn more than $ 8,000 a week). But as they entered the 2020 season, the Rams added Wolford as the backup for starting quarterback Jared Goff, who was the first overall pick of the 2016 NFL draft and earned $ 33.5 million a year. In comparison, according to Spotrac, Wolford earns the league’s minimum salary this season, $ 610,000, along with a $ 150,000 bonus. Wolford will also remain under contract with the Rams for the next season, when he earns a base salary. of $ 780,000.)
That means Wolford, 25, waited until Sunday on the bench when he started as a quarterback for the injured Goff.
With that game, Wolford made history as the first quarterback to start his first career in a team’s last game of the season with the playoffs. And despite throwing an interception on his first throw of the game, Wolford jumped back to become the first NFL fullback to throw at least 200 yards and run for at least 50 yards more in his first career.
Now, Wolford’s initial success as the Rams’ full-back could even lead to another career: a start in a playoff game. Rams head coach Sean McVay said after Sunday’s game that he was “not sure” whether the usual starter Goff would be able to return in time from a thumb injury for next Saturday’s playoff game with the Seattle Seahawks. Wolford will likely start again if Goff is not available.
Following the defeat of the Cardinals on Sunday, Wolford told reporters he would celebrate the victory, while also planning to play again next week. “I’m here to do a job,” he said, adding that he did not know if Goff would be healthy enough to play. “I’m just trying to enjoy this win, and then I’ll put my head down and work on Seattle.”
Asked if he was ready to delete his LinkedIn profile after Sunday’s victory, however, Wolford gave ESPN an answer indicating that he did not take his playing career for granted.
“Football ends at some point,” he said. “So I’ll probably like [the LinkedIn profile] on. ‘
For now, though, Wolford’s LinkedIn profile calls him a ‘professional athlete’ and ‘quarterback for the Los Angeles rams’.
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