Former NFL player finds calling as writer, works on HBO’s ‘Ballers’

Many NFL players step away from the game involuntarily, and then are suddenly forced to figure out what to do with their lives.

Rashard Mendenhall seems to have had it mapped out pretty well.

Mendenhall, a former first-round pick of the Pittsburgh Steelers who also spent a year at running back with the Arizona Cardinals, retired suddenly last March after six NFL seasons. Like many of the surprising early retirements this year, Mendenhall just had enough of the game and walked away.

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Mendenhall seems to have found something else he enjoys in retirement. He has a writing career and already has a nice addition to his resume, writing for HBO’s new show on football, “Ballers,” which is produced by Stephen Levinson of “Entourage.”

Back in March, Mendenhall told USA Today’s Lindsay Jones about his passion for writing, which he said he would do once he was done with football (h/t to Business Insider):

“I jumped right into something, and it was really cool and enjoyable, because writing was something that I always enjoyed and coincidentally (the HBO show) had to do with football — something that I loved,” Mendenhall told Jones. “It was a really natural and cool and beautiful thing to be a part of.”

USA Today said that Mendenhall moved to Los Angeles and became a full member in the Writer’s Guild. He said a blog post on why he retired, which was published by the Huffington Post, led to his opportunity to write in the television world.

While the sad tales of post-NFL life are commonly told — and, ironically, seem like they will be a big part of the “Ballers” series — it’s good to see that Mendenhall seems to have it all figured out.

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Frank Schwab is the editor of Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @YahooSchwab