Sean Culkin (born June 11, 1993) is an American former professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

tight end The tight end (TE) is an offense (sports), offensive position in American football, arena football, and Canadian football. It is a hybrid that combines the characteristics and roles of both an offensive lineman and a receiver (football), receiv ...

who played in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL) for the

Los Angeles Chargers The Los Angeles Chargers are a professional American football team based in the Greater Los Angeles, Greater Los Angeles area. The Chargers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC W ...

and

Baltimore Ravens The Baltimore Ravens are a professional American football team based in Baltimore. The Ravens compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The team plays its home g ...

. He played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

Missouri Missouri (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it border ...

Early life and education

Culkin played

high school football High school football, also known as prep football, is gridiron football played by High school (North America), high school teams in the United States and Canada. It ranks among the most popular high school sports, interscholastic sports in both c ...

at Indian Rocks Christian School in

Largo, Florida Largo is the third largest city in Pinellas County, Florida, United States, as well as the fourth largest in the Tampa Bay area. As of the 2020 Census, the city had a population of 82,485, up from 77,648 in 2010 United States Census, 2010. Larg ...

. He caught 28 passes for 547 yards and 8 touchdowns his junior season, earning All-County honors. He caught 55 passes for 981 yards and 18 touchdowns his senior year, garnering

U.S. Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its origins to 1 ...

First Team

All-American The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed on outstanding athletes in the United States who are considered to be among the best athletes in their respective sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an Al ...

, First Team All-State and team MVP recognition. Culkin also played several years of

AAU basketball The Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) is an amateur sports organization based in the United States. A multi-sport organization, the AAU is dedicated exclusively to the promotion and development of amateur sports and physical fitness programs. It has ...

. He graduated from

University of Missouri The University of Missouri (Mizzou or MU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri, United States. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus Univers ...

in May 2016 with a Bachelor's Degree in Finance. In 2020, Culkin was accepted into the

Kelley School of Business The Kelley School of Business (KSB) is an undergraduate and graduate business school for Indiana University Bloomington and Indiana University Indianapolis. As of 2022, approximately 13,538 full-time undergraduate and graduate students are enr ...

, where he enrolled in

Indiana University Indiana University (IU) is a state university system, system of Public university, public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. The system has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration o ...

Master of Business Administration A Master of Business Administration (MBA) is a professional degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration; elective courses may allow further study in a particular ...

program.

College career

Culkin played for the

Missouri Tigers The Missouri Tigers intercollegiate athletics programs represent the University of Missouri, located in Columbia. The name comes from a band of armed Union Home Guards called the "Fighting Tigers of Columbia" who, in 1864, protected Columbia ...

of the

from 2013 to 2016. He was

redshirted Redshirt, in United States college athletics, is a delay or suspension of an athlete's participation in order to lengthen their period of eligibility. Typically, a student's athletic eligibility in a given sport is four seasons, aligning with the ...

in 2012. He played in 14 games in 2013, catching 1 pass for 6 yards and recording 1 solo tackle. Culkin was also named to the SEC Fall Academic Honor Roll. He played in 14 games, in 2014, catching 20 passes for 174 yards and 1 touchdown. He played in 10 games, in 2015, catching 16 passes for 139 yards and 1 touchdown. Culkin also recorded one solo tackle. He was named to the SEC Fall Academic Honor Roll in 2015. He played in 10 games in 2016, catching 24 passes for 282 yards. Culkin was named to the SEC Fall Academic Honor Roll in 2016. He played in 48 games during his college career, catching 61 passes for 601 yards and 2 touchdowns. He also recorded 2 solo tackles. In January 2017, Culkin played in the Tropical Bowl, a college football all-star game.

Professional career

Culkin was rated the 39th best tight end in the

2017 NFL draft The 2017 NFL draft was the 82nd annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible American football players. It was held in front of the Philadelphia Museum of Art on April 27–29, returning to Philadelphia f ...

by NFLDraftScout.com.

Los Angeles Chargers

Culkin signed with the

as an undrafted free agent on May 12, 2017. Culkin was primarily utilized as a blocking

and special teams contributor. In his second season with the team, Culkin saw an increase in snaps and 10 starts in the 13 games he played. In Week 4 of the 2019 season, Culkin suffered a torn Achilles and was ruled out for the season.

Baltimore Ravens

On September 22, 2020, Culkin was signed to the

practice squad. He was elevated to the active roster on December 2 for the team's week 12 game against the

Pittsburgh Steelers The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional American football team based in Pittsburgh. The Steelers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. Founded in 1933 P ...

, and reverted to the practice squad after the game. He was placed on the practice squad/injured list on December 4, and restored to the practice squad on January 5, 2021. His practice squad contract with the team expired after the season on January 25, 2021.

Kansas City Chiefs

On February 5, 2021, Culkin signed a reserve/future contract with the

Kansas City Chiefs The Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Chiefs compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) West division. Established in 1959 ...

. On April 26, 2021, he became the first NFL player to convert his entire salary to

bitcoin Bitcoin (abbreviation: BTC; Currency symbol, sign: ₿) is the first Decentralized application, decentralized cryptocurrency. Based on a free-market ideology, bitcoin was invented in 2008 when an unknown entity published a white paper under ...

. He was released on May 10, 2021.

References

External links

Missouri Tigers bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Culkin, Sean 1993 births Living people American football tight ends Baltimore Ravens players Kansas City Chiefs players Los Angeles Chargers players Missouri Tigers football players Players of American football from Pinellas County, Florida Kelley School of Business alumni