One day after announcing that he is gay, Las Vegas Raiders defensive end Carl Nassib reportedly had the top-selling jersey in the NFL.
ESPN reported Tuesday that Nassib’s No. 94 jersey was the top seller in the Fanatics network, the largest collection of official fan gear in the world. Nassib, 28, made his announcement on Instagram Monday, becoming the first active NFL player to acknowledge his homosexuality.
“I’m at my house here in West Chester, Pennsylvania,” Nassib said. “I just wanted to take a quick moment to say that I’m gay. I’ve been meaning to do this for a while now but finally feel comfortable enough to get it off my chest. I really have the best life, I’ve got the best family, friends and job a guy can ask for.
“I’m a pretty private person so I hope you guys know that I’m really not doing this for attention. I just think that representation and visibility are so important. I actually hope that like one day, videos like this and the whole coming out process are not necessary, but until then I am gonna do my best and do my part to cultivate a culture that’s accepting, that’s compassionate.”
Nassib further announced a $100,000 donation to the Trevor Project, which works to prevent suicides among LGBTQ+ youth in America and cited that as a main reason for coming forward.
Very proud of Carl Nassib! Incredibly happy for him and can’t wait to watch him play this upcoming season! 👏🏾🙌🏾 https://t.co/kFaTF2EIcR — Jason Collins (@jasoncollins98) June 21, 2021
Very proud of Carl Nassib! Incredibly happy for him and can’t wait to watch him play this upcoming season! 👏🏾🙌🏾 https://t.co/kFaTF2EIcR
— Jason Collins (@jasoncollins98) June 21, 2021
The sixth-year defensive end is on track to become the first openly gay athlete to compete in an NFL regular season game. After being drafted in the third round in 2016 by the Browns, he spent two seasons in Cleveland (2016-17) and two with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (2018-19) before signing a three-year, $25.3 million contract with the Raiders in 2020.
In 73 career games (37 starts), Nassib has 143 tackles (36 for loss), 20.5 sacks, 16 passes defensed, one interception, three forced fumbles and one fumble recovery. –Field Level Media (@FieldLevelMedia)
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