12 Former And Current NFL Stars Who Support Donald Trump

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Donald Trump has gained supporters from all walks of life — of course, Trump also has his haters, from musicians to Hollywood celebrities alike — over the course of his political career. While some people chose to quietly vote for the president, others haven't been shy about getting behind the MAGA movement — and NFL players have been on both sides. It seems with Trump's 2024 presidential campaign, more and more football stars came out to voice their opinions of him, some offering unwavering support by speaking at his rallies and others happily wearing red "Make America Great Again" hats with pride.

President Trump has been appreciative of the support that he's received from various NFL players, including some that he considers friends. For example, prior to the 2024 election, Trump said that he wanted to appoint GOP Senate candidate Herschel Walker to be in charge of a new missile defense shield. Though the majority of NFLers won't be joining 45 + 47's administration, they're certainly happy to see Trump back in office, along with some 77 million other GOP voters. Let's take a look at some of the former and current NFL stars who are undoubtedly thrilled to be along for the ride.

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San Francisco 49ers defensive end Nick Bosa – who's shady side has been unveiled in recent years — is a big supporter of Donald Trump. In fact, he was actually fined for wearing a MAGA hat! The whole thing went down following the Niners' win over the Dallas Cowboys on October 27, just days before the 2024 election. Bosa broke a long-standing NFL rule when he put a "Make America Great Again" hat on and got in front of television cameras during quarterback Brock Purdy's post-game interview.

The NFL fined Bosa over $11,000 because players "are prohibited from wearing, displaying, or otherwise conveying personal messages either in writing or illustration, unless such message has been approved in advance by the League office" pre-game and post-game (until they leave the stadium). Bosa didn't seem to care much about the repercussions of his actions, telling reporters if he was to be fined, it was "well worth it."

Back in March, Bosa was photographed standing with Trump at UFC 299 in Miami, Florida as both gave the camera a thumbs up. Bosa was joined by Cincinnati Bengals quarterback, Joe Burrow, who was also seen chatting up No. 45.

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Retired quarterback Tom Brady is thought to be a supporter of President Trump, though Brady has never outwardly shared which way he leans politically. For years, people have suspected that the New England Patriots Hall of Famer voted for Trump because the two were thought to be friends. In a 2022 interview with Variety, Brady admitted that he hadn't spoken to Trump in "years." Brady kept things in check and refused to speak badly about the president, but he made it clear that the media isn't always honest. "I'm not responsible for what other people say. I'm really responsible for what I say," he responded. "So if people want to say things that I said or that I'm about, that's up to them, and I'm not going to respond to all those things all the time either."

For some, that seemed like a non-answer in regard to Brady's loyalties, but Trump seemed to put an end to any lingering confusion about how Brady had voted in the 2016 election, at least. "Tom Brady called today. He said 'Donald I support you, you're my friend, I voted for you,'" Trump was quoted as saying at a New Hampshire rally by CBS News, also claiming that Brady allowed him to divulge this information to the public.

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Antonio Brown, known for his troubled history and his time playing for the Pittsburgh Steelers, has been very outspoken about his support for Donald Trump. In October 2024, Brown jumped on the Trump campaign trail, making an appearance at a rally held in Latrobe, Pennsylvania. Brown was so passionate about his pick for president that he even participated in holding a voter registration drive. Brown has also made some changes to his Instagram account, archiving the majority of his posts in favor of four out of five of the live posts having to do with endorsing Trump.

"AB for Trump," read the caption of one Instagram post that was uploaded in October. In the accompanying video, Brown and Trump embrace for a post-rally photo. About a week after the 2024 election, Brown uploaded a video of himself speaking at the aforementioned rally. "We did," he captioned the Instagram post, adding the American flag emoji. In the video, Brown said that he knows the media would call him and Trump "crazy" for having him as a guest speaker at the event. "We are not," he said. "They are," he added, and the crowd cheered.

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Former NFL running back Le'Veon Bell hasn't been shy about supporting Donald Trump. He was on-hand at the Latrobe, Pennsylvania Trump rally in October 2024, alongside Antonio Brown. He posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, about his love for Trump fairly consistently throughout the campaign and after Trump won the election. In a video shared to his account, Bell responded to people who gave him a hard time for his allegiance to Trump.

"All I'm gonna say is I tried to tell y'all. Make America great again, make America great again. Now you can go get a hat. Ain't no point of me moving, huh? Y'all thought I was about to go somewhere? Joke's on you! Joke's on you! I ain't going nowhere. I'm here to make America great, man," he said on X on November 6. "Y'all thought I was crazy. Y'all thought I was the one trippin," he added. Bell specifically called out people who told him he must have CTE (chronic traumatic encephalopathy) to support Trump.

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In October 2024, Harrison Butker of the Kansas City Chiefs attended a Josh Hawley for Senate event in Missouri. During the event, Butker shared his endorsement on Donald Trump. "I'm supporting the president that's going to be the most pro-life president ... I want us to be fighting for the most vulnerable, fighting for the unborn," he said (via Newsweek), putting the topic of abortion at the top of his list when it comes to who to vote for.

The kicker has also been speaking out about Trump's picks for his administration and took to X after Brian Burch was selected as the next Ambassador to the Vatican. "Brian has been a leading voice in the Catholic community here in America through his organization @CatholicVote and now in his new role, he can take those gifts to Rome," Butker wrote on X on December 20.

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After 13 seasons with the New York Giants, Lawrence "L.T." Taylor decided to retire from the NFL in 1994. In the years since, he's dabbled in acting and even released an autobiography — and he's gotten into politics. In May 2024, he joined Donald Trump on the campaign trail, speaking in front of a large crowd in Wildwood, New Jersey. At the rally, Taylor admitted that he was a life-long democrat until he met Trump. "Nobody in my family ever will vote for a Democrat again," he said (via X).

When Trump took the mic, he praised Taylor and former running back Ottis "O.J." Anderson, who was also at the rally, revealing that they all are actually buddies. "Look at those two guys, O.J., Lawrence, my golfing friends. We don't have to agree on everything," Trump said (via USA Today) as the two were exiting the stage. Interestingly, though Taylor is active on social media, he doesn't post too much about politics — but he hasn't left anyone confused about where he stands.

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Retired Chicago Bears linebacker Brian Urlacher has shared his thoughts and feeling about Donald Trump on social media. In May 2024, for example, he shared a picture of him and Trump on the golf course. "Doesn't matter how many fake charges they find him guilty of he's still got my vote. TRUMP 2024," he captioned an Instagram post, adding two American flag emojis. The Hall of Famer also shared an Instagram post after the election declaring "We are back!"

As for why Urlacher has been so outspoken when it comes to his support for Trump, he previously told Fox News' Jesse Watters that the climate is just different these days. "People were scared for a while. You don't want people to talk bad about you, how we've been talked about the last four years if you're a Donald Trump supporter," he said. "I think now, no one's scared anymore. It's nice to see these guys coming out and everyone who's a silent Trump supporter."

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Las Vegas Raiders teammates Maxx Crosby and Gardner Minshew met with Donald Trump in August 2024. The meeting came before a scheduled rally in Arizona, on the heels of a really big endorsement for Trump. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. decided to throw his support behind Trump, which many felt was a big turning point prior to the election. Before heading to the Copper State, Trump made a stop in Nevada, where some of the Raiders players made it a point to visit with him. Crosby and Minshew, along with Raiders wide receiver Alex Bachman, took a photo together that was shared on X, and all four were smiling big.

Crosby and Minshew have both individually made it known that they're big supporters of DJT, as well. On July 13, after a failed assassination attempt on Trump, Crosby took to X to share a photo of him sitting next to Trump, adding three goat emoji and saying nothing more. Meanwhile, Minshew took full advantage of the time he got to spend with Trump in August and took a picture just the two of them — both giving a thumbs up — which was also shared on X.

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One of Donald Trump's biggest supporters in the NFL world is easily former athlete Herschel Walker. Walker, who appeared on Season 2 of Trump's "Celebrity Apprentice," has thrown his allegiance behind the businessman turned politician in a big way. Walker was so behind the MAGA way of thinking that he actually ran for Congress himself, winning Georgia's GOP Senate primary in 2022. Walker's decision to continue speaking out in support of Trump has paid off. In December 2024, the 47th president announced that he had nominated Walker as the United States ambassador to the Bahamas.

"Herschel has spent decades serving as an Ambassador to our Nation's youth, our men and women in the Military, and athletes at home and abroad," Trump wrote on Truth Social. "During my First Term, he served as Co-Chair of the President's Council on Sports, Fitness, and Nutrition. Herschel has traveled to over 400 Military installations around the World, removing the stigma surrounding mental health," Trump continued, adding that Walker would make the "entire nation proud" by continuing to "put AMERICA FIRST!"

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Former NFLer Richie Incognito is another big Donald Trump supporter. In an interview with Bleacher Report that ran ahead of the 2016 election, Incognito explained why he was voting for Trump. "I think that he can help this nation get back to a world superpower. Where I think he could help is putting us first again and having that — it's my mentality, too — having that tough attitude where you put America first and everyone's thinking we're the greatest nation in the world ... That toughness is where I identify with him," he related.

Two years later, Incognito praised Trump's meeting with Vladimir Putin, telling TMZ Sports that Trump took a "power position." Richie, who announced his retirement from the NFL in 2022, hasn't posted much on social media about the 2024 election or its aftermath. However, on July 4, 2024, he took to X to share a GIF of Hulk Hogan playing an electric guitar that featured the American flag on it. Hogan is also a well-known Trump supporter, which may suggest that Incognito did indeed vote red in the 2024 election.

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Perhaps best known for playing center for the New York Jets, Nick Mangold is also a well-known conservative. He's long been in the politics mix, supporting GOP candidates from Mitt Romney to Chris Christie. In March 2016, Mangold linked up with Donald Trump and introduced him at a rally in Dayton, Ohio. Mangold ended up being so inspired by DJT's America First attitude that he decided that he wanted to get more involved in politics himself. In February 2018, Politico reported that Mangold was strongly considering running in the New Jersey GOP primary to join the House of Representatives. A short while later, Mangold took to X to say that while he may have briefly considered getting more involved, he ultimately decided not to run.

He didn't waiver on his support for Trump, however. On November 3, 2020, Mangold seemed to question election integrity. "I'd like to know how NJ can be called when I dropped my ballot in a drop box a week ago and it's yet to be received," he said on X, sharing a photo of the status of his mail-in ballot. On November 6, 2024, Mangold reacted to the election by posting an emoji of the American flag on X, clearly happy with the results.