West Point graduate gets waiver to play for the Eagles while serving as active-duty

[douglas9]

A West Point graduate received a waiver from the U.S. Army to sign with the Philadelphia Eagles on Friday, and play in the NFL while serving as an active-duty soldier.

The waiver for 2nd Lt. Brett Toth was first reported by ESPN's Adam Schefter, who said that Toth signed a three-year deal with the Eagles. Toth graduated from the U.S. Military Academy in 2018.

"As an Army officer, 2nd Lt. Toth is part of the team that defends our nation," Army spokeswoman Cynthia O. Smith said in a statement. "The Army is very excited that he will now have the opportunity to simultaneously pursue his dream as part of the Eagles team while continuing to serve as an active-duty soldier."

Toth played four seasons at West Point with a total of 31 games, the academy said in a press release, calling him a "key contributor on the offensive line" in his last two seasons. Toth was also invited to both the Senior Bowl and the East-West Shrine Game after his senior year.

In 2017, he was named to the 2017 Associated Press All-Bowl Team.

"He is an extraordinary leader of character with professional athletic ability," West Point spokesman Lt. Col. Chris Ophardt said in the press release. "He will provide a great benefit to the Army while playing in the NFL."

The policy to allow military academy athletes to pursue a professional sports career was announced in June this year, reversing a 2017 decision by former Defense Secretary James Mattis who said that the military academy graduates would have to serve at least two years of their five-year service obligation before going pro.


https://taskandpurpose.com/brett-toth-nfl-waiver

Imagine Rocky would have liked getting a waiver:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocky_Bleier

[CurtEastPoint]

1. So the taxpayers are gonna pay for this guy to play fucking football?

[Blue_true]

5. He actually can have a big impact while playing football.

One reason why most gifted athletes that qualify won't go to a service academy is the requirement to go into the military. We see exceptions, the basketball player who was basically allowed to join the reserves instead of doing a four year hitch, but in general an elite jock gets stuck going to the service academy, occasionally one, like Roger Staubach does his hitch and come out to become an all-star professional athlete, but that is rare.

[Sneederbunk]

2. First things first.

[Docreed2003]

3. This is some BS

David Robinson was too tall to serve on ships after graduating from Annapolis and he still completed a two year active duty obligation prior to joining the nba.

[Brother Buzz]

4. Roger Staubach had to serve his four years before he got a crack at the NFL

[DeminPennswoods]

6. Roger Staubach was a Navy Supply Officer,

not a line officer.

This kid will serve out his duty as a recruiter ala Napoleon McCallum and David Robinson, iirc.

[Brother Buzz]

7. Staubach was color-blind

[jmowreader]

8. The services have Olympic athletic programs

My view is, if the Army will send a guy to Fort Carson to run track or play rugby sevens, I have no issue with sending Lt. Toth to Philadelphia to play offensive line.