Former Pro Bowl DB has become an FBI agent - report
While many former NFL players go into coaching or broadcasting, there are some who follow a different path after they retire from the game. Some try their luck in Hollywood. A few go into politics. Former Titans and Steelers safety Myron Rolle became a neurosurgeon.
And then there is Charles Tillman, the former cornerback who spent most of his career with the Bears.
The Chicago Tribune reported last September that Tillman had begun training in Virginia to become an FBI agent.
Now Tillman has graduated from the bureau’s academy in Quantico and earned his FBI badge, according to a Sporting News report Friday.
Former NFL cornerback Charles 'Peanut' Tillman earns FBI badge, source says https://t.co/uIsjKqOCCT pic.twitter.com/hbmOM0vHgm
— Sporting News NFL (@sn_nfl) February 23, 2018
“A spokesman for the bureau told Sporting News that it does not comment on personnel matters, and Tillman’s family couldn’t be reached, but a source close to the situation said on the eve of Tillman’s 37th birthday, ‘He is currently working for the FBI. [He] has his badge and everything,'” Sporting News’ Bobby Clay wrote.
In other words, don’t expect any press releases announcing the hire.
“They will try to get him to fade to anonymity as much as they can,” retired U.S. Marshal Kim Widup told the Sporting News. “But I think at some point the FBI will also use it as part of their recruiting policy, as in, ‘Look who we got.'”
The FBI stipulates that new agents must earn their badge before they turn 37. Tillman turned 37 on Friday.
Happy Birthday to the one and only, @peanuttillman! 🐻⬇️ pic.twitter.com/BCf7cvXErA
— Chicago Bears (@ChicagoBears) February 23, 2018
Dave Wannstedt, Tillman’s former coach with the Bears, called him a “first-class” guy. “Charles Tillman is as good as they come, and I had a great time working with him,” Wannstedt told the Chicago Tribune upon learning he was training for the FBI.
Tillman worked for Fox Sports on the “Fox NFL Kickoff” show last season in his first year of retirement. He has traded a post-football career in television for law enforcement.
Nicknamed Peanut, Tillman was drafted by the Bears in 2003 in the second round out of the University of Louisiana, Lafayette. He played 12 years with the Bears, making the Pro Bowl twice and earning first team All-Pro in 2012. He was known for his ability to punch the ball loose from runners.
Tillman played his final year with the Carolina Panthers in 2015 and was part of the team that went to Super Bowl 50 and lost to the Broncos 24-10.
Hey @peanuttillman congrats on beating the 37 year old deadline and becoming and FBI agent… well done
— trey wingo (@wingoz) February 23, 2018
Tillman won the NFL’s Walter Payton Man of the Year Award in 2013 for his charitable work.
He founded Tillman’s Cornerstone Foundation to help critically and chronically ill children and their families.
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