Former NFL quarterback Dan Orlovsky announced Tuesday that he will be joining ESPN as an analyst for college football and the NFL. Born and raised in Connecticut, and a graduate of the University of Connecticut, Orlovsky will now work in Bristol, Conn.
I can now share this.
First off, thanks to @nflnetwork and @gmfb for giving me a shot. All ❤️ Huge shoutout to @RossTuckerNFL for your advice long ago.
Thank you to all who have reached out over the past week or so.@espn I CANNOT WAIT to get to work! pic.twitter.com/EXPe8eprxY— Dan Orlovsky (@danorlovsky7) July 17, 2018
After being selected by Detroit in the fifth round of the 2005 NFL Draft, Orlovsky spent 12 years in the league with the Lions, Texans, Colts and Buccaneers. He announced his retirement from football in October with a letter written on SportsSpectrum.com, in which he expressed what football had meant to him and how much he learned from the game and those who played with him, singling out mentors such as former QBs Jon Kitna and Josh McCown.
“Every part of who I am as a man, a father and husband, I have to thank football for,” Orlovsky wrote. “Because of football I got to watch those mentors live, and be dads and husbands and followers of Jesus, and because of football I got to say, ‘I want my life to look like that!'”
Kitna and McCown were crucial in Orlovsky becoming a Christian in 2006, although he says it took him almost 18 months to accept Jesus Christ into his life.
“I thought I couldn’t be a Jesus follower and at the same time be this vicious competitor,” Orlovsky said on the Sports Spectrum Podcast last November.
But he modeled Kitna and McCown and learned how to love others while also playing football. The approach served him well in professional football, and he’ll continue on in this game he loves from the broadcast studio.
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