{"id":32340,"date":"2024-02-07T11:11:52","date_gmt":"2024-02-07T16:11:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/?p=32340"},"modified":"2024-02-07T11:11:52","modified_gmt":"2024-02-07T16:11:52","slug":"nfl-stars-stroud-purdy-and-others-praised-for-their-boldness-of-faith","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2024\/02\/nfl-stars-stroud-purdy-and-others-praised-for-their-boldness-of-faith.html","title":{"rendered":"NFL Stars Stroud, Purdy, and Others Praised For Their &#8216;Boldness&#8217; of Faith"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_32346\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-32346\" style=\"width: 1200px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/87\/2024\/02\/nfl-stars-boldness-faith-credit-dean-bertoncelj-shutterstock.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-32346\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/87\/2024\/02\/nfl-stars-boldness-faith-credit-dean-bertoncelj-shutterstock.jpg\" alt=\"faith and football\" width=\"1200\" height=\"900\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-32346\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">dean bertoncelj\/Shutterstock.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Several of the most successful NFL coaches and players have opened up recently about the role faith has played in their careers and lives. On &#8220;Fox &amp; Friends,&#8221; NFL Hall of Famer Anthony Munoz said, &#8220;My heart overflows with joy. I have that same relationship with Jesus. I&#8217;m going on 46 years, and to hear someone unapologetic with boldness to share their faith is amazing.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>After announcing his return to the NFL, former Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh shared that his priorities of &#8220;family, faith, and football&#8221; will carry over to his new role as head coach of the Los Angeles Chargers. Harbaugh said, &#8220;My priorities are faith, family and football, and we are going to attack each with an enthusiasm unknown to mankind. This organization is putting in the work \u2014 investing capital, building infrastructure and doing everything within its power to win. Great effort equals great results, and we&#8217;re just getting started.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>ESPN reported Harbaugh\u00a0agreed to a five-year deal with Los Angeles, a team that went 5-12 during the 2023 regular season as Harbaugh&#8217;s Michigan Wolverines won the college football title. His brother, Baltimore Ravens head coach John Harbaugh, has also proudly shared his faith. After securing a playoff win against the Houston Texans,\u00a0Harbaugh\u00a0opened his postgame press conference by reading a Bible verse. He said, reciting 1 Chronicles, &#8220;Greatness, power, glory, victory and honor belong to you because everything in heaven and on earth belongs to you. The kingdom belongs to you, Lord.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/aLfzt6eACNU?si=Jf0ocylSIKMqFhIT\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Let Us Worship&#8221; founder Sean Feutcht praised Harbaugh for quoting Scripture after the win.\u00a0&#8220;More of this in America,&#8221; he wrote on X.\u00a0Houston Texans quarterback CJ Stroud has also been vocal about his faith, starting his postgame press conference after a loss by thanking God. He was then asked about leaning on his faith in tough moments. He told reporters, &#8220;It\u2019s what I lean on through thick and thin. I know I\u2019m upset right now, but I\u2019m really just blessed looking back on this year, this opportunity we had today to play in front of millions of people. I\u2019m just really grateful to God on all the opportunities He\u2019s blessed me with.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Another young player who has received praise for his faith is San Francisco 49ers quarterback\u00a0Brock Purdy,\u00a0whose team is on its way to the Super Bowl. Last season, Purdy said, \u201cI\u2019m a faith-based guy, so that\u2019s how I stay grounded. I don\u2019t look at football like it\u2019s literally everything. It\u2019s (not) do or die or anything like that.\u201d Sports media personality Jon Root shared his support for Purdy and Stroud in a post on X, saying, \u201cI&#8217;m buying a Brock Purdy &amp; CJ Stroud jersey tonight, and I think every other Christian football fan should too. Would be pretty cool to make these\u00a0Christian athletes\u00a0the most popular jerseys in sports.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Munoz is one of numerous big names throughout the sports field and other\u00a0faith leaders\u00a0who have rallied in support of the players and coaches, proudly sharing their faith. He explained, &#8220;Faith is not only part of your profession, it&#8217;s the most important thing in their lives, as you can see. And that&#8217;s what&#8217;s exciting about it. To hear that. And when you have something in your life that you treasure, the peace, the joy, you want to share it with somebody else.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Several of the most successful NFL coaches and players have opened up recently about the role faith has played in their careers and lives. On &#8220;Fox &amp; Friends,&#8221; NFL Hall of Famer Anthony Munoz said, &#8220;My heart overflows with joy. I have that same relationship with Jesus. I&#8217;m going on 46 years, and to hear&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":657,"featured_media":32346,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3630,7,3388,3294,10],"tags":[3555],"class_list":["post-32340","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-athletes","category-entertainment","category-faith-based","category-football","category-sports","tag-faith-and-football"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>NFL Stars Stroud, Purdy, and Others Praised For Their &#039;Boldness&#039; of Faith<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Several of the most successful NFL coaches and players have opened up recently about the role faith has played in their careers and lives.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, 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