We can find heavy metal fans in every walk of life, so it is no surprise to see that there are plenty of former pro football players who love this type of music.
Who are the players that have mixed the NFL with metal?
Free Reign Has 3 Former NFL Stars in It
Surely a contender for the title of the heaviest and most physically intimidating group of all time, Free Reign packs in not one but three former NFL stars. One of the members is Marc Colombo, who was an offensive tackle for the Dallas Cowboys, the Chicago Bears, and the Miami Dolphins. When on the stage or in the recording studio, he handles the vocals and guitar for his group.
Cory Procter was a guard for the Lions, the Dolphins, and the Cowboys following college football at the University of Montana. When he is on the stage rather than the field, he plays the drums for Free Reign. His other interests include public speaking and running a financial services advisory company.
The other member from the NFL is Leonard Davis, who was a guard /tackle that spent most of his 12-year NFL career with the Arizona Cardinals and the Dallas Cowboys. He also had brief spells with the San Francisco 49ers and the Detroit Lions before retiring in 2012. Davis plays bass for Free Reign.
Guitarist Justin Chapman is the final member of the group, and the only one who wasn’t a pro football player. However, the members insisted that having three NFL players in the line-up at the same time wasn’t just a marketing gimmick. Rather, they came together naturally as a group when they all played for the Cowboys and started jamming in the locker room, later adding Chapman who was a friend of the band members.
Their full-length debut, titled Free Reign, was released under the DC Rightside Music label, and they had some success with Tragedy. Formed in 2009, the band is still active but hasn’t attracted as much media attention since those three members retired from the NFL.
The former players had admitted in earlier interviews that juggling music with football was tough, so they presumably can concentrate more on their music now.
Kyle Turley Performs Power Country and Doom Metal
As an offensive tackle, Turley played nine seasons in the NFL with the New Orleans Saints, the Los Angeles Rams, and the Kansas City Chiefs. He was an All-Pro pick in 2000 but many people still remember him best for ripping off another player’s helmet and tossing it down the field, which happened in 2001.
When he retired from pro football after suffering some bad injuries, Turley turned to a new career in music. He plays a unique style that is described as power country, which combines his musical influences in an interesting mixture of styles. This brings elements of country, heavy metal, and rock together in one package.
Before playing in the NFL and during the offseason while he was a pro, Turley had played in a series of heavy metal bands. Once retired, he was able to fully concentrate on music and started up his own record label. His first full-length album was called Anger Management and it did reasonably well upon release in 2010, being followed by a series of other releases that helped his reputation to grow.
He has performed under the name of the Kyle Turley Band and also as a member of Delta Doom, which is a two-piece doom metal group he created with Rob Ogles on bass. The former pro has recently re-appeared in the headlines as a cannabis advocate, so it isn’t clear whether he plans to make any new music.
There you have it, some players who have mixed metal with football. And if you like NFL, read some interesting facts about the league in this article on the 10 longest field goals in NFL history right here.
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