Helmet
off SANTANA MOSS
Talks Football,
Fatherhood and
Finding New Purpose
STORY BY MICHELLE ARDILLO
PHOTOS BY DAVID STUCK
lthough his NFL football playing days are
behind him, former Washington Redskins
wide receiver (#89) Santana Moss still
leads a pretty busy and full life.

The 40-year-old father of five spends most of his days mov-
ing from work on his foundation to recording a podcast, to
his work as an NBC sports analyst, to a radio talk show, to his
afternoon workout.

No stranger to hard work, Moss began his younger athletic
journey running and jumping out of the inner city neighbor-
hoods of Miami to a track scholarship at the University of
Miami, where he was also a walk-on to the football team his
freshman year.

Even though his track scholarship was converted to a foot-
ball scholarship after the third game of his freshman season,
he ran track all four years, saying “Track is what got me in, so I
stuck with it all four years,” eventually winning the triple jump
at the 2000 Big East Championships, with a personal-best
mark of 15.50 meters. His accomplishments as a wide receiver
for the Miami Hurricanes earned him All American Honors in
2000 as well as induction into the University of Miami Sports
Hall of Fame in 2011.

Moss was a first-round pick in the 2001 NFL draft by the
New York Jets, where he played until 2004 when he was traded
to the Washington Redskins. He came out with a bang in week
Santana Moss
Santana Moss mentors local
youth football players.

14 WashingtonFAMILY JUNE 2019
Santana Moss remains “a
fine-tuned athlete,” working
hard and working out to
keep up with his five
children, who he wants to
grow up “to be responsible
and to be accountable.”