Meet Thomas Evans, the ex-football star who retired from the NFL to chase a strongman’s dream of deadlifting 855 pounds this year
THOMAS Evans used to move NFL linemen on the field, and now he aspires to be one of the strongest men in the world.
Evans, 28, is a former footballer-turned-strongman-turned-strongman with lofty goals to achieve.
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He was a standout football player for the University of Richmond before going undrafted in 2017 and signing with the Green Bay Packers for a season.
After retiring from football, the 28-year-old began training for professional weightlifting, citing rust as one reason.
He told Musculardelveloment.com in an interview about the transition and the similarities:
“I’ve always loved lifting weights and it was a big part of how I played football. There’s more kidnappings than people would believe,” Evans said.
“You train as hard as you can for a goal; it doesn’t matter if you’re part of the team or an individual athlete.”
“It’s pretty important in both sports to look at the athlete as a whole and make sure you’re touching all of your fundamentals in your training.”
He also mentioned a Netflix show that was coming out right around the time he decided to retire from football, which fueled his passion for becoming a strongman.
“Born Strong came out on Netflix around the time I was done with football. I looked at that a few times and said hey why can’t I do that?” he noted.
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“When I saw this show, I thought I can be there one day. That day is coming.”
That day actually came.
In 2022, Evans competed in the Arnold Amateur Strongman Championships and was named World’s Top Amateur Strongman.
He currently works as a strength coach at the University of Delaware while training to become the strongest man alive – something he hopes to achieve in the years to come.
“There’s potential to get there faster, but there’s no give-me. You must fight, claw and claw to seize every opportunity that presents itself to you.”
Evan competed in the 2023 Arnold Strongman Classic and placed fifth and had an incredible 855-pound deadlift.