The Arizona Cardinals made Auburn linebacker Owen Pappoe the second of two fifth-round selections. He has yet to suit up for the team, but he already knows what he wants to do when the day comes he isn’t playing anymore.
Defensive coordinator Nick Rallis revealed on Tuesday what Pappoe told him previously.
“He basically said, ‘I want to really be a strength coach after I’m done playing in the NFL,’” Rallis told reporters.
The answer came when Pappoe was asked what he was studying in college. He studied exercise science.
Rallis thought it was cool for him to have those plans “because he was a little bit lighter playing safety then kind of changed his body.”
Pappoe enters the NFL undersized for traditional linebackers. He is six feet tall and 225 pounds.
He is built more like a safety than a linebacker, although that size and frame is becoming more and more common.
The coaches like Pappoe’s intelligence and athleticism. That comes first.
But assuming he can play in the NFL for a few years, keep an eye out on him after that to see if he lands a strength training job somehere in the league.
Listen to the latest from Cards Wire’s Jess Root on his podcast, Rise Up, See Red. Subscribe on Apple podcasts or Spotify.
