It is known that college football players dedicate a lot of their time to the sport that they play. They give up countless years, months, days, and hours just to perfect their craft. Many do this because of their hopes of playing in the NFL. However, it is known that only a small group of players get a chance to be in the NFL, furthermore play in the NFL.

According to NFL Football Operations, each year “only 875 (.08%) players will sign an NFL contract, and only 300 (.03%) players will make an NFL roster.” For some players, wanting to play in the NFL is the only goal that they foresee for their future and they don’t prepare for life after the NFL. On the other hand, there are players who have thought about life after the NFL, and they are fully prepared to move on if necessary.

Reaching a dream and then sulking when it takes an unexpected turn for the worst is an action Christian Milstead is not fond of doing. Instead, Milstead has overcome, adapted, and adjusted to various obstacles that have popped up during his twenty-five years of living. Raised by his mother (Deborah Milstead), grandmother (Vera Bullard), and aunt (Angela Bullard) the three concepts of overcoming, adapting, and adjusting were instilled in him at a young age by these three women.




“They all played a big part in me growing as a man. They all taught me things that I carry to this day,” Milstead said.

Because of these women, for the final day of the 2015 NFL Draft, Milstead was already equipped to handle what occurred. He went undrafted. “… I had very high hopes. But I didn’t let it bother me too much”, he said. Soon after the draft, Milstead and his agent received several offers for NFL rookie minicamp try-outs. Eventually, he accepted an offer to attend the Green Bay Packers’ rookie minicamp. The Packers, who were looking for someone to play a nickel-corner role, were impressed by Milstead’s versatility as a defensive back, since he played four different positions for Florida Atlantic University. Besides his versatility, there were several other factors that helped him get an invitation from Green Bay. He finished his collegiate career at FAU with 129 tackles, 16 pass break-ups, and 4 interceptions. Milstead also was a member of the 11^th best total defense and 2^nd best pass defense in the nation (during 2013), and performed well enough during his pro-day.

Source of information FAU Football; Infographic created by Shaheem Sutherland using MS Word

“It was a very, very surreal feeling to know that I was good enough to be scouted by a team from the National Football League. It was a very gratifying experience. … I’ve been playing football since I was seven years old. I grew up watching the NFL, and it was always a dream of mine.”

After the minicamp, Milstead was informed he did not make the team. While in Wisconsin for the rookie minicamp, Milstead was given three days to prove himself against other players in the same predicament. Reflecting, he stated: “It’s a tough situation.”

NFL Agent Ron Butler, who has negotiated contracts since 2003, and who represents 11 NFL players under Impact Sports Management, says “… If you go into a rookie mini-camp, each guy is going to get evaluated because you’re looking to find who’s the cream of the crop that didn’t get drafted. I think based on that every team does their homework, or research on a guy. At that particular time, if you’re not really what they’re looking for your position may be expendable, and sometimes you won’t get selected. … When you look at it from a tryout standpoint, a team’s not going to work you out if they don’t potentially feel you can make their team or make their club. Not a lot of guys get calls that say ‘hey come in and work out’ that doesn’t happen a lot …”

Although Milstead’s dream was fulfilled and then taken away, he did not mope around or “put his life on pause”. Instead, he has just added that period in time to the list of events he overcame, adapted to, and adjusted to in his life.

According to Milstead, transitioning to life after the NFL “has not been a very difficult phase for me because I was always a person who didn’t just only depend on football. I was always taught that I had to depend on my mind as well. That’s the reason why I really focused while in school­—to get a good degree, so I could get a good job in case football didn’t work out. … The transition of not playing at this moment is not a tough one.”

Now, with his degree in Exercise Science and Health Promotion, Christian Milstead is a Personal Trainer Director for one of LA Fitness’s locations in South Florida. However, if you ask him if he still wants to play football, then he’ll say yes: “I do still want to play football, that is still a goal of mine to get to the NFL, and stay there. … I am still training hard as if I was to get a call (from an NFL team) any day now.”




For athletes whose dreams are to play in the NFL, Butler says “it may not come when you want it to come, but if that’s your dream, that’s your passion you should continue to pursue it.” Later on he stated, “Football doesn’t last forever, that’s one thing everyone should know. You always want to make sure that you have a back-up plan, or something else you would like to pursue in case football doesn’t work for you. … Just in case Plan A doesn’t work, you can always fall to Plan B. … It’s like being able to call an audible.”