Former Detroit Lions wide receiver Nate Burleson has done well for himself since retirement. Burleson is a two-time Sports Emmy Award winner for Outstanding Studio Analyst in 2021 and 2022. It was also recently announced that Burleson will be the new host of the revived game show classic, Hollywood Squares.
It may look easy now to the outside eye, but nothing came together easily for Burleson. In a recent interview, the 43-year-old revealed how lost he felt after retiring from professional football in 2013.
Nate Burleson Reveals He Was Lost After Retirement
Burleson had an 11-year career in the NFL with the Minnesota Vikings, Seattle Seahawks, and Detroit Lions from 2003 to 2013. He had a career year in his second year, topping 1,000 receiving yards for the only time in his professional career. He retired with 457 career receptions for 5,630 yards and 39 touchdowns.
The native of Canada has since gone on to achieve success in his life after football, but Burleson explained that the initial period after retirement was particularly difficult. He spoke about his journey with Adam Breneman on the “Next Up with Adam” podcast.
“I don’t have a gold jacket. I didn’t win a Super Bowl. There’s a void inside of me,” Burleson said. “I still feel like I can play. My body won’t let me. Who am I? Figure it out. And then I started to realize who I wanted to become. Because the void was real. I’ve been playing football since I was eight. I never won a major championship.”
When football ended, @nateburleson was lost.
No Super Bowl.
No farewell tour.
Just silence—and a gaping void.
For the first time, he had to answer a brutal question:
Who am I without the game?
This clip is raw. It’s honest.
And every athlete needs to hear it. ⬇️⬇️ pic.twitter.com/NlL9ZnRRiD
— Adam Breneman (@AdamBreneman81)
Burleson admitted to really struggling with not achieving success in a sport that he has played since he was eight.
“I’m like, what’s up, football gods? What’s up, baby? I’m the guy that you give the championship to. Give me a ring. I gave you everything,” Burleson said. “I’ve sacrificed bones and ligaments. Like, I got metal in my knee, and I have repaired injuries. Like, I’m the one. Like, I see all these other guys that don’t deserve a Super Bowl.
“I’m the one who deserves it. I’ll trade in some of the money. I’ll trade in a year or two. I want the Super Bowl. And when I left the game, I didn’t realize how much of a void it was until I was fully retired and I’m sitting back at the house drinking my ass off, watching old highlights of myself.”
Trading Super Bowl Rings for Emmy Awards
The 43-year-old explained how he turned his life around. He converted that dream of chasing a Super Bowl ring and the Lombardi trophy to winning an Emmy Award for his work as a media analyst.
Burleson said: “One day I woke up and I’m like, all right, I have to create some good habits. I have to shed some of these things that are holding me back from moving on. And then it hit me.”
He used that motivation to achieve more success in the media world than he had in the NFL. He started with “Good Morning Football” on NFL Network after his retirement, before joining the “NFL on CBS” team. He would also move outside of football, working as a co-anchor for “CBS Mornings” and as the co-host of the 2023 Kids’ Choice Awards.
Burleson’s new drive is to win more Emmy awards.
“I want to win Emmys in every show that I’m on,” he said. “That’s the ultimate goal.”
