Raiders release Carl Nassib, NFL’s first openly gay player

The Las Vegas Raiders have released defensive end Carl Nassib, the first active NFL player to come out, from his contract, the football league website reported on Wednesday. Selected in the third round of the draft in 2016 by the Cleveland Browns, Carl Nassib, 28, also played for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers before joining the Raiders in 2020.

Now free to sign with another team, he should however in this case receive a salary less than the 7.75 million dollars (about 7 million euros) that the Raiders should have paid him. Last June, he announced his homosexuality in a video posted on Instagram. The 28-year-old defensive end then became the first active player on a professional American football league team to come out.