It wouldn’t be a season of The Bachelorette without a former NFL player — or, in the case of Clare Crawley’s season, three former NFL players. One of these NFL vets is Dale Moss, a 31-year-old from Brandon, S.D. who forms an immediate bond with Crawley. But Moss is the first to admit his career in and out of sports hasn’t been the most conventional.
“My journey to the NFL was a lot different than most people,” he said in a 2019 video interview with Express. “I was actually a college basketball player, and I never wanted to think ‘what if?’ so I worked extremely hard, had great people around me, and it gave me an opportunity in the NFL.” Moss only spent one year on South Dakota State University’s football team, but he stood out with six touchdowns and 61 receptions for 949 yards in only nine games. After graduating from SDSU, Moss was signed to the Green Bay Packers as a free agent.
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Moss was cut from the Packers in 2012. From there, he was able to continue his NFL career and spend time with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Chicago Bears, but he wasn’t on either team’s main roster: he was on both the Buccaneers’ and Bears’ practice squads, or expanded rosters. He was then briefly signed to, and then waived from, the Carolina Panthers in 2013.
In 2014, Moss was assigned to the Los Angeles Kiss, an Arena Football League (AFL) team owned by KISS musicians Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley. “Arena football was a learning experience for me and gave me another opportunity to keep my NFL dream going,” Moss told sports blog Sportskeeda. “I had decided to do it as a way to stay in shape and create some film in the off-season.” Plus, he added, he was able to begin making connections within the entertainment industry while he was in L.A.
Moss briefly returned to the NFL in 2014 when the Bears’ wide receiver, Terrence Toliver, suffered an injury. He had three catches for 36 yards, according to the Chicago Tribune, and was waived after a month. But after leaving the NFL, Moss was excited to take his career in a new direction, and has since kept busy with several philanthropic efforts, a podcast, and a modeling career.
Among his many pursuits, Moss works as an ambassador for the Special Olympics, and has advocated for the program both in the media and in meetings with government officials. His older sister is a former Special Olympics athlete, and according to his ambassador bio, the organization has been close to his heart since childhood. “I never regretted once when I chose to stop playing football,” Moss told Forbes in 2019. “I’m exactly where I’m meant to be and I’m the happiest I’ve ever been.”