Veteran linebacker Brandon Copeland is calling it a career after 10 seasons in the NFL.
Copeland, who spent the 2020 season with the New England Patriots, confirmed the news Monday, putting a stamp on the comments he made to ESPN.
“It’s been one amazing rollercoaster ride of a career! I think I can officially tell say, ‘Mama, I made it!’ Copeland wrote.
An Ivy League star for Penn, Copeland played for six teams during his career, starting out his career as an undrafted free agent with the Ravens in 2013 — and finishing his career with them in 2022. Copeland also played for the Titans, Lions, Jets and Falcons.
In 2013, Copeland graduated from the Wharton School at Penn with a degree in economics. He returned to the school in 2019, this time to teach classes. Copeland taught “URBS 140″ — also known as “Life 101″ — along with professor Brian Peterson. According to ESPN, Copeland has continued to teach the financial literacy course, returning as a co-teacher in 2021.
Copeland also served as the keynote speaker for the 2023 Wharton undergrad graduation ceremony.
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Copeland played in six games for New England in 2020, starting four, and tallied 12 tackles. However, his time with the Patriots was cut shut when he suffered a torn pectoral injury that ended his season.
Copeland spoke highly of the Patriots during his time in Foxborough, saying that the team’s reputation spoke volumes.
“There are certain things that you do in life where you say, where you have that tag line so to speak, and you don’t have to explain anything else after that. … Once I told a couple of my buddies or a random person, ‘I’m playing with the Patriots now.’ Period,” Copeland said in 2020. “I hope this doesn’t come off as arrogant or anything, but at that point in time whoever I’m talking to understands that I’m a legit player, right? Just because you wouldn’t even make it into this organization unless you were.”
The torn pec was one of a number of major injuries Copeland suffered over the course of his career. The retiring linebacker joked with ESPN that, “I’m Tin Man out there, trying to keep everything together from falling apart and, at a certain point, you got to know.”
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