BYU’s Matt Bushman ‘moving away’ from the game
Barring a surprise phone call, Matt Bushman’s final play in the NFL will be in mid-June when he picks up his second Super Bowl ring during a celebration in Kansas City.
“If a great opportunity presents itself in the NFL again, I’ll take it,” Bushman told the “Y’s Guys” podcast this week. “But after a lot of prayer and a season of thought, I felt it was time to take the next step and move away from football.”
“We’ll see in a matter of months if I can officially move on and close that door. We are taking it in stride.”
Matt Bushman on his decision to move away from the NFL
A torn Achilles on the final play of the final day of fall camp stole his senior season at BYU in 2020 and kept him off the NFL draft board in 2021. Bushman signed with the Chiefs as a free agent and appeared to be destined for a roster spot in 2022 but he broke his clavicle during Kansas City’s final preseason game — on a night when he caught two touchdowns.
“Everyone learns from the roller coaster of life — the good, the bad and the ugly,” Bushman said. “Sometimes in my mind, I was like, ‘Why is this not going the way I had envisioned for myself?’”
Last season, with Chiefs star tight end Travis Kelce out with an injury, Bushman started the season opener against Detroit and played seven downs — his last seven. He went back on the practice squad and stayed there through the Super Bowl.
“Playing in the first game, it was uneventful, but it was awesome,” said Bushman, who did not sign an offered futures contract with the Chiefs this offseason. “It’s kind of a ‘gut feeling’ of knowing when it’s time to be done. This isn’t a retirement announcement, but I’m taking those steps to move on.”
Bushman and his wife Emily live in Danville, California, with their two daughters as he goes to work in a career that is off the field.
“We’ll see in a matter of months if I can officially move on and close that door. We are taking it in stride,” he said. “Maybe I’ll be on some flag football team in the future?”
Bushman’s two Super Bowl rings will forever be remnants of his short time playing alongside Kelce, catching passes from Patrick Mahomes, being coached by Andy Reid, and even attending a New Year’s Eve party where he and his wife hung out with Taylor Swift.
“My wife is a Swiftie through and through. She was super excited to meet her,” Bushman said. “Mahomes threw (the party) and Travis and Taylor showed up. It was cool to see someone with that much fame still be down to earth.”
The football journey has been different than Bushman thought, but still quite a ride.
“It’s been awesome,” Bushman said of his NFL experience. “I hope my teammates see that I was real and supportive of them and was just a guy who worked hard and tried to make it happen.”
Dave McCann is a contributor to the Deseret News and is a play-by-play announcer and show host for BYUtv/ESPN+. He co-hosts “Y’s Guys” at ysguys.com and is the author of the children’s book “C is for Cougar,” available at deseretbook.com.
