Why Carli Lloyd’s NFL target date is being pushed back ‘a year or so’
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Two-time Olympic gold medalist, New Jersey native, and huge Eagles fan Carli Lloyd hasn’t been shy about her desire to cross over from women’s soccer legend to starting NFL kicker as her pro athlete career continues.
It seemed at one point that Lloyd had her eyes set on picking up tryouts or potential training camp looks as early as this summer, after lighting it up last summer at Eagles training camp with a 55-yard field goal (see story).
But with the sports world on hold – including the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, where Lloyd hoped to compete for one last gold medal – Lloyd said over the weekend she’s likely pushing her NFL timeline back by at least a year.
“First and foremost, I’m focusing on soccer at the moment, but I’ve always been a kid who loves a challenge,” Lloyd said during a Women’s Sports Foundation e-panel hosted by Yahoo! Sports.
“I never back down from any challenge, and I know with proper training, and the right technique, and someone showing me how to kick, I know that I could do it. So it may have to get pushed a year or so, we’ll see. I know the times right now are a little up in the air. So we’ll see. I’m not ruling it out, you never know.”
Lloyd, 37, could have theoretically segued from the 2020 Olympics, which were slated to end in early August, into a few training camps, or at least turned her attention fully to the 2021 season, but with the Olympics re-scheduled to next summer, things have changed. Lloyd has said multiple times that she is keeping soccer at the forefront.
Lloyd’s decorated time with USWNT obviously deserves her full attention, and when she spoke with NBC Sports Philadelphia’s John Clark last month, Lloyd also explained she wanted to focus on her club soccer career:
I don’t know. I mean, I’m sure I’m going to be part of our NWSL league, playing for Sky Blue FC this summer, but who knows? I’m going to take it one day at a time. Obviously, soccer is my big passion at the moment, and I’m focusing on that.
So it might be 2021, or even 2022, until Lloyd has a full-effort shot at making an NFL roster.
But Lloyd’s interest in the NFL has been a two-way street, and if she’s still interested and still booming 55-yarders when next summer’s Olympics wrap up, those football aspirations can resume – ideally with a third gold medal in tow.
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