Cam Newton, Marshawn Lynch coach up current NFL players on personal branding

Eric Williams

NFL Reporter

LOS ANGELES — Former NFL MVP Cam Newton has certainly not faded into the sunset after his playing days.

Through content creation and provocative discussion on his social media channels, Newton has developed a second career after football. And at the NFL’s annual Player Personal Branding and Social Workshop this week in Los Angeles, the former Heisman Trophy winner and Super Bowl quarterback encouraged current players to take a similar path.

“Use [football] as a tool, not as oxygen,” Newton told young NFL players during a breakout session. “It’s cool, but once you’ve leveraged your access and leveraged who you are, that can pay you dividends for years to come.”

Now in its sixth year, the two-day event offers players insight on entrepreneurship, securing partnerships, getting the most out of social media and other ways to build their brand while still playing in the league.

YouTube, which has a partnership with the NFL and will broadcast its first live game this season, hosted the second day of the seminar at the company’s facility in Playa Vista. Kim Larson, global head of creators and gaming for YouTube, hammered home the importance of players finding their voice, building relationships and using the resources available to them.

Tracy Perlman, senior vice president of player operations, said the NFL partnered with former NFL receiver Larry Fitzgerald to create an event that teaches skills to help players brand themselves during and after their careers. In addition to Fitzgerald, other former players who spoke include burgeoning media creators and TV personalities Ryan Clark, Jason McCourty and Marshawn Lynch, who was not necessarily a willing interview subject during his playing career.

“If you’re a current player in your first, second or third year, you start thinking about what I aspire to do after football and then try out those things through the programs that we have,” Perlman said. “And if you’re a veteran on the back end, now you have to start pinpointing, and what does that mean? And how does that impact who you are on the field?

“The more you start to let people know who you are while you are playing or as you start transitioning out, the more people are going to start to look for your content, look for your story and follow you as you are doing that.”

One player on that road is veteran New Orleans Saints tight end Juwan Johnson, who has 161,000 followers on Instagram and posts regularly about his family life.

“When I first got into social media, you’re really kind of lost,” Johnson told me. “You’re trying to see where you can fit in, where you can help. Honestly, I think it’s about really finding my way, how I can represent myself and my family — me being a father and being a football player, because you’re also representing a team. So, handling myself on the football field and off the football field is the biggest thing. Being here gives you the tools, but also the access they have to help us out.”

Entering his second NFL season, Chicago Bears receiver Rome Odunze was an active participant during breakout discussions as he learns to navigate new spaces on social media.

“There’s a great opportunity here with what the NFL is doing for us with this workshop,” Odunze told me. “So I’m just trying to make the most of it. There’s so many avenues and spaces that you can step into within this realm. I’m just trying to learn how I want to approach it.”

Eric D. Williams has reported on the NFL for more than a decade, covering the Los Angeles Rams for Sports Illustrated, the Los Angeles Chargers for ESPN and the Seattle Seahawks for the Tacoma News Tribune. Follow him on X at @eric_d_williams.

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