Former NFL Player Jason Brown Quit Football to Become A Farmer

(NORTH CAROLINA) Sports News: From the football fields to the sweet potato fields, Jason Brown talks candidly about God’s directive for him to quit the NFL and farm for the poor in North Carolina. In 2009, Jason Brown seemed to have it all—a successful NFL career, a lovely wife and a growing family. In fact, he had a five-year contract with the St. Louis Rams for $37.5 million, at the time making him the highest-paid center in the NFL.

Then after two seasons with the Rams, Jason’s coach told him that he would no longer be the starting center. He was, in effect, demoted. But Jason found peace when he sensed the Holy Spirit assure him that his identity didn’t lie in his occupation or in football. And what happened next completely took him by surprise: He felt God leading him to quit the NFL. And become a farmer. Walking away from his football career at age 29 seemed unthinkable to his friends, family and coaches, but Jason was confident he had heard God’s call.

But what would this mean for his family? The change would be dramatic for both Jason and his wife, Tay. She had invested years studying to become a dentist and getting established in a practice. Moving to North Carolina to home-school their kids and help Jason farm would mean suspending her career, too. And so began an unexpected journey that taught the Brown family how to trust God, grow vegetables and focus on what is most important in life.

When Jason was a child, his father had a good government job in Washington, D.C. But because Jason’s mom didn’t feel the environment was right for their children, she and the kids moved to her hometown of Henderson, North Carolina. Jason’s dad commuted—every other weekend he’d go home to family in North Carolina. Although Jason’s parents made the best of their situation, Jason vowed to himself, I am never going to do that to my family. I am never going to do a long-distance relationship. But with a career in the NFL, that’s exactly what happened.

Jason and Tay married in 2003 while they were still in college. After they graduated in 2005, the Baltimore Ravens drafted Jason, and Tay was accepted to the dentistry program at UNC Chapel Hill. “The early years of our marriage, it was a big struggle,” Jason says. “There was a lot of sacrifice. We had separate goals those first four years during the long-distance relationship.” In 2007, their first son, J.W., was born.

After Tay finished dental school and Jason became a free agent in 2009, things started to change. Jason was offered a contract with the St. Louis Rams, and he and Tay were finally living in the same city. “God gave us relief,” Jason says. “At the same time, we were being pulled by the world—still chasing money, entitlement and all these things. It really was a recipe for disaster. We put on this fake facade and image for as long as we could.”

Jason and Tay felt that God had given them a tremendous blessing and an awesome responsibility in their children. And the couple realized that their fast-paced lifestyle was keeping them from focusing on the kids and their needs.

Then the news came that Jason would no longer be starting for the Rams. Although other teams were interested in Jason and he could have pursued a lucrative career elsewhere, his priorities of faith and family led him to embrace what he refers to as a “humbling halt.”