As a child, you play various sports, and invariably, you pretend to be your favorite player, kicking the winning field goal, making the last-second touchdown grab, hitting the home run with a 3-2 count in the bottom of the ninth, or squeezing the puck on a nutmeg against the goalkeeper.
Then you get to high school and realize that every kid on the team is very talented. Instead of hitting dingers to end the game, you are trying to get by the ball to gain first base.
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Boxer Jake Paul has recently come out and made noise about playing pro football. To be more specific, playing professional football for the Cleveland Browns.
This doesn’t seem to be Paul’s attempt at his 15-minutes of fame. Being well-known and well-paid is his current job. And he is pretty good at it. Paul has an estimated net worth between $80 million and $200 million, depending on who’s counting.
Paul has stated that several NFL teams are interested in him as a receiver, which is fitting since he played that position and linebacker while at Westlake High School in Westlake, Ohio, just west of Cleveland. He grew up a Browns fan and would like to play for his childhood team. This same scenario happened to former Browns QB Bernie Kosar and WR Paul Warfield. The Browns were their fav team, and they hoped to be drafted by them. And were.
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It seems that Paul has made it known that he has better hands than most NFL receivers and would make the roster without an issue. For now, teams are already in training camp, so his timing for a workout seems a bit on the later side.
And don’t say that he wouldn’t be able to take the violence of the NFL game. He had his first boxing match back in 2018. He has headlined a bout against MMA champion Ben Askren and won via a knockout. In his 14 fights, he is 12-2 with seven knockouts. He also defeated Nate Diaz, Anderson Silva, and Tyron Woodley. In 2021, Sports Illustrated named him “Breakout Boxer of the Year.”
Paul has been very successful in the business world as well as in music.
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Currently, Cleveland has 12 receivers on their training camp roster. They selected KC Concepcion in Round 1 and Denzel Boston in the second round of April’s NFL draft. They also signed Tylan Wallace away from the Baltimore Ravens in free agency.
It’s easy making the last-second touchdown catch in your backyard with a bunch of neighborhood kids. Paul hasn’t played football since high school. And his boxing career, while with a very good win-loss record, is against retired fighters. NFL players compete each week as their livelihood on the football field.
They have their careers invested in this league and aren’t looking for a single payday like a boxer would get paid. This is their career, and many will become well-known for being a pro football player while others become high school coaches or real estate agents. A team like Cleveland is always looking for talent. He could get that call. But it will be as a workout player. If he passes that stage, it becomes a physical and then a training camp contract.
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With the hope that the real football players won’t find a way to humble a Browns fan turned into a roster hopeful.
(Editor’s Note: All of this feels like a PR stunt and is highly disrespectful to the amount of effort, time, and attention it takes to be a professional athlete of a particular sport. There are very few athletes who are good enough to be professionals at more than one thing (Bo Jackson, Deion Sanders, to name a couple). The Paul family has become elite marketers; this feels like just another example of that.)
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