Keith Fitzhugh turned down an NFL contract and doesn’t regret it at all.
The 38-year-old was offered a deal by the New York Jets after a successful college career but instead made the unusual switch to a different career.
When Fitzhugh went undrafted in 2009, he was forced to find a job.
So he turned to the train industry and became a conductor in Atlanta after his NFL dream seemingly came to an end.
Although in 2010, he was offered a lifeline back into the sport as the Jets offered him a contract as a safety.
However, Fitzhugh rejected it, electing not to risk a stable career with a steady income for the unpredictable world of the NFL.
The reason being was the need to care for his disabled father and later his wife and young son, a decision he feels was the right choice.
Fitzhugh opened up on the decision to reject the Jets when speaking to the New York Post in 2023.
“That was the hardest decision I ever had to make in my life,” Fitzhugh said.
“I’m very thankful for the opportunities I’ve been given and I still thank the Jets for calling me back to give me another chance.
“But if I took that shot and got cut, who knows where I would be today?”
The now train conductor also opened up on the feeling of his NFL dream coming to an end in 2009.
“I worked from when I was eight years old to almost 21 — 13 years of playing football,” Fitzhugh added.
“That’s what I always dreamed to do. When my name wasn’t drafted, I was really hurt.”
Back in 2009 when he rejected the Jets contract, Fitzhugh revealed how welcoming the then head coach Rex Ryan was of his choice.
“He said, ‘Hey kid, I’m proud of you,” Fitzhugh recalled Ryan telling him. “He understood.”
At the time of his decision, Fitzhugh’s story gained national attention and saw him star a guest spot on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and national television interviews with ABC and CNN, among several others.
“It was really a blessing because when I played football and was giving it my all, I never got the opportunity to do the things I got to do when I was just trying to do the right thing,” he said.
“Never. Not one time. Going out to L.A., going on Jay Leno and going on all these major networks, I feel like I was the hottest non-football-playing football player in the world.
“I really didn’t think it was going to be that big a deal, to be honest,” he said. “It kind of blew me away.”
Fitzhugh has and is still enjoying a great career that has enabled him to take care of his family, even if it’s not the one he dreamed of as a kid.
