NFL 40 under 40: How football’s youngest power brokers are changing the game on and off the field
Welcome to The Athletic’s second annual NFL 40 under 40 list, a collection of the rising stars in football, the young league and team power brokers you should know this season.
Here are some parameters we used in creating this list, after soliciting nominations and advice from people working in and around the NFL: To be eligible, individuals had to be younger than 40 before Aug. 1, 2021. At times, established names were bumped to profile up-and-comers. For example: The NFL has six head coaches younger than 40, and after including the Giants’ Joe Judge and the Bengals’ Zac Taylor on last year’s list, we dropped them today in favor of a few rising coordinators. This list also does not include current NFL players, with one exception: JC Tretter earned a spot for his role as NFL Players Association president. You can, however, look for our second annual All-Under-25 Team soon. We’ll highlight some of the NFL’s talented young players there.
Until then, meet the 2021 class of the NFL 40 under 40:
Nate Burleson, NFL Network/CBS studio analyst | Age: 39
Burleson, a former wide receiver for the Vikings, Seahawks, Lions and Browns, has seen his broadcasting career take off in recent years. And now, his media résumé is expanding beyond sports.
Last week, Burleson signed a new deal with CBS to appear across the network’s platforms, including as a host of “CBS This Morning” and regular appearances on Nickelodeon. He will no longer be a regular host of “Good Morning Football” but his role on NFL Network will expand, with more frequent appearances on shows like “NFL GameDay” and a more prominent presence on social media.
Burleson had already been with CBS for three seasons when the network tapped him to host and provide color commentary for Nickelodeon’s NFL playoff broadcast in January. CBS Sports chairman Sean McManus described Burleson’s performance that day as a revelation.
“He understood that his audience was everybody from the hardcore football fan who was watching the broadcast with their children, to the 6- or 7-year-old who didn’t know anything about football, but loved seeing SpongeBob run on the field and players being slimed,” McManus said in a recent phone interview. “He managed to thread the needle perfectly so that he wasn’t in any way insulting to the football fan. And yet he wasn’t speaking over the heads of the kids who were watching. That’s a talent that you have to develop, and he has it. That was, I think, an awakening for a lot of people who hadn’t seen Nate in that form before.”