Once Broke, Redskins Legend Terry Crews Reveals How Commanders Icon Changed His Life

Almost everyone knows Terry Crews. Even if you might not have heard his name, you would’ve definitely seen him. Some of you might have seen him on America’s Got Talent, while for some, like me, it was as Sgt. Terrence Jeffords on Brooklyn 99. But not a lot of people know that Terry Crews played in the NFL periodically between 1991 and 1996 before entering the entertainment industry and killing it. Not just that, Terry even dabbled his hands at art and he was pretty good at it too, being the artist that he is.

But life wasn’t always easy and jolly for Terry Crews. It was during his time in the NFL that he struggled quite a lot while also taking care of his family. Recalling his time in the NFL and at the Washington Commanders (then Redskins), Terry penned a post on Instagram. In the post was an old photo of him holding a painting of Brian Mitchell that he had made. Talking of the time when he was cut from the team and a family to support, he wrote, “27 years old. Just cut from the Washington Redskins (now the @commanders). I had a dream, a family to support, and a gift: painting.”

“Back then, I’d walk back into the locker room—not as a player, but as an artist—asking guys if they wanted their portraits painted,” he wrote. Referring to his NFL days, when he would draw and paint realistic pictures of his teammates on commission. For a brief time, he even had a licensing deal with the NFL when he was at Washington. “That’s how I survived those first seven years in the NFL… painting my way from team to team. It helped me keep going, helped me and Rebecca eat, helped us believe in what was next,” he added. 

Staring at an old painting of former Washington teammate Brian Mitchell, it transported Terry Crews back to old memories from when he was 27, long before red carpets and sitcoms. “He just sent me this pic today. I hadn’t seen it in decades… and it brought me right back,” Crews wrote. That painting wasn’t just a portrait. It was a lifeline. Mitchell wasn’t just a teammate; he was one of the rare few who believed in Crews… Not as a player, but as a person. As an artist. As a guy trying to find light in a league that can be brutally cold.

During his NFL run, Crews bounced from roster to roster—Rams, Packers, Chargers, Rhein Fire, and finally the Eagles in 1996. But it was in Washington that he found a flicker of purpose beyond the playbook. After all, he did appear in 16 games as a DL before he got cut. But even after that, he came back to the locker room to offer hand-painted portraits to his former teammates. That was the hustle. And Mitchell? He bought in—literally. “Most people don’t know the struggle. They just know the success,” Mitchell wrote in the comments, backing up his former teammate with the same heart he showed back in the ’90s.

“Two years after this, I moved to Hollywood,” Crews said, reflecting on the journey. And from there, you know the rest. Everybody Hates Chris. Brooklyn Nine-Nine. Hosting game shows. Becoming a household name. But it all started with that brush, that painting, and that belief. Behind every laugh we’ve shared with Terry Crews is a man who painted his way out of rejection, carried faith in himself, and never forgot who helped him hold on.

Terry Crews’ move from the NFL to movies

After bouncing around the NFL and getting cut one last time by Washington, Terry Crews made the kind of career pivot that most only daydream about. He packed up, left football behind, and landed in L.A. chasing something bigger. But let’s not pretend it was a Hollywood fairy tale from Day 1. His first real break came through “Battle Dome,” a wild ride of a show he once called “American Gladiators on steroids.” That’s where T-Money was born, Crews’ first on-screen persona in 1999. And from there? Bit by bit, cameo by cameo, he chipped away at that concrete wall of the entertainment industry.

He popped up in The 6th Day with Arnold Schwarzenegger. Then came Friday After Next and White Chicks, where he played the unforgettable Latrell Spencer—part baller, part chaos, all comedy. That role? Game changer. It turned heads and made sure you couldn’t forget Terry Crews even if you tried. Suddenly, the guy painting portraits in NFL locker rooms was front and center in big-screen comedies, cult classics like Idiocracy, and eventually action-packed franchises like The Expendables. You could see it, Crews wasn’t just surviving in Hollywood. He was starting to thrive.

And then came the second wave. TV gold. He became the lovable, penny-pinching dad Julius in Everybody Hates Chris, and then the no-nonsense, yogurt-loving Sgt. Terry Jeffords in Brooklyn Nine-Nine. Add to that his time hosting America’s Got Talent and Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, and you’ve got the full spectrum. From helmet to headset. From sideline cuts to screen steals. What Terry Crews built post-NFL isn’t just a career; it’s a reinvention. A loud, unforgettable one that, much like his Old Spice commercials, leaves a lasting impression.