Gable Steveson Has NFL Teams Reaching Out Again After WWE Release

Stephen Douglas | May 9, 2024

Minnesota's Gable Steveson reacts after his match at 285 pounds in the finals during the sixth / Joseph Cress/Iowa City Press-Citizen /

Gable Steveson is a free agent. The college wrestling legend has been released by the WWE and is now weighing other opportunities. According to a statement read by Ariel Helwani on Thursday's edition of The MMA Hour, Steveson has been getting calls from NFL teams as well as doing mixed martial arts training with Kill Cliff Fight Club in Florida.

Steveson signed a multi-year deal with the WWE while he was still in college at Minnesota and was selected by Raw with the next-to-last pick in the sixth round of the 2021 WWE Draft. He made his debut at Wrestlemania 38 in April 2022. By 2023 he ha been moved to Raw's developmental brand, NXT. Last week he was released from his contract. According to Helwani, there was a year remaining on his deal.

Ariel Helwani reads a statement from Gable Steveson's manager.

Says multiple NFL teams have reached out to Gable Steveson and that he also has been training at Kill Cliff FC.#TheMMAHour pic.twitter.com/BnDJFk95z0

— Jed I. Goodman © (@jedigoodman) May 8, 2024

"Gable Steveson is very grateful for the opportunities he had with WWE and would like to thank everybody in the organization who helped him get there. He would also like to thank all the fans for supporting him on his professional wrestling journey. Now, Gable is ready to resume competing against elite-level competition and looks forward to sharing big news with you all very soon.”

Steveson, who won gold in the freestyle 125 kg event for the United States at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, but missed out on Olympic trials for the 2024 games. So now he'll have to focus on professional sports, whether that's in MMA or the NFL. In 2022 Daniel Cormier, the UFC commentator and former champion, said that he thought Steveson would be better suited to fight professionally and then move to professional wrestling.

Cormier still may be proven correct, unless Steveson somehow catches on in football. It's not shocking that teams have reached out to the wrestler as told previously told Pat McAfee that he was receiving calls back in 2021. Steveson will turn 24 later this month and has obviously been staying in shape since the last time teams were showing interest.