Hawkins sees NFL future on field, in front office
Wide receiver committed to family business of football
No chance. That’s what people told Andrew Hawkins — all 5-7, 180 pounds of him — years ago, when the diminutive receiver emerged from Toledo, hoping for a shot at the NFL. The supposed verdict? Too small. No chance. Hawkins heard the same thing recently when he talked about getting a master’s degree from Columbia. Too tough ... supposedly.
Yet last Monday, Hawkins, 31, earned a master’s in sports administration from the Ivy League school, finishing with a 4.0 grade-point average. The moral of his journey? “Don’t put limitations on yourself,” he told USA TODAY Sports. “I’m used to people doubting what I can do. It fuels me even more. If you want to accomplish something and are willing to do the work, it can get done.
“That’s why, when things get tough, I never feel like I’ve failed. It’s never over. I never quit. In my mind, find another way.”
Hawkins has added another layer to his inspiring saga. Rejected after a tryout with the Cleveland Browns when coming out of college, he returned a few years later with a three-year, $14 million contract. Before that, he took a shot as one of 12 contestants on a reality show on Spike TV that guaranteed the winner a training camp slot with the Dallas Cowboys (Hawkins didn’t win). He also played in Canada before breaking into the NFL with the Cincinnati Bengals in 2011.
Hawkins’ best season came with the Browns in 2014, when he led them with 63 catches for 824 yards. Last season, he caught 33 passes in a reserve role.
Hawkins is looking for a new job, and there’s no denying the type of determined character he can add to a locker room. He visited the New England Patriots last week and says four teams have made offers this offseason. But he’d like to join a contender.
Then again, Hawkins is also thinking about a different NFL job.
He sees his new degree as a step toward his long-term goal of becoming a general manager. Hawkins, who has studied film of high school recruits as a hobby for years, sees the well-regarded Columbia program as a foundation that will supplement the personnel components of a GM job with big-picture business principles. His final exams included oral presentations before corporate executives.
“I can go into a boardroom and fit into that atmosphere,” he said.
Then there was that law and ethics class, which he started two years ago.
“We were briefing eight or nine cases in a week,” he said.
A spiritual man, he added, “I heavily relied on prayers.”
Hawkins used the time afforded with coast-to-coast travel to dig into the briefs. Back in Cleveland now, he spent the bulk of this offseason living in Los Angeles while interning under Maverick Carter, who runs LeBron James’ media company, Uninterrupted. The grind included flying cross-country each week for classes.
Hawkins, a married father of three young children, isn’t ready to pursue his next career yet. But he’s a great example of a player who has parlayed his life experiences and a successful NFL stint into laying the groundwork for a long-term occupation that could let him become an even bigger difference-maker.
“I come from a long line of football players,” he said. “I’ve always known that you’ve had to prepare for life after you’re done playing.”
When he calls football his family business, he isn’t exaggerating.
His older brother, Artrelle, played nine years as an NFL cornerback. Three other siblings played college football. A cousin, Carlton Haselrig, played four of his five NFL seasons with the Pittsburgh Steelers and earned a Pro Bowl nod as a guard in 1992. Another cousin, Geroy Simon, is the CFL’s all-time leading receiver and now director of Canadian scouting for the British Columbia Lions.
Now it’s Andrew who is distinguishing himself. On top of his cap on graduation day, Hawkins taped a classic message that read: “Just as smart as I am quick. Shuttle: 4.0. GPA: 4.0.”
“One of the mottos for my life is that finishing, seeing things through, is a learned trait,” Hawkins said. “This is what you do to get things done.”
And he is hardly done yet.