Former Giants Kicker Running for Congress

The lives of former New York Giants regularly give fans a glimpse into the post-playing experience, for better or worse.

Quarterback Eli Manning co-hosts “The Manningcast” with his brother, Peyton Manning. Cornerback Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie has turned to coaching, edge rusher Lawrence Taylor has run into legal troubles, defensive lineman Michael Strahan is one of America’s beloved television hosts, and running back Brandon Jacobs is writing tweets nobody asked for.

Now, longtime kicker Jay Feely is turning his attention to civil service.

The former Giants kicker announced his congressional campaign on Tuesday. He’ll be running for Arizona’s fifth congressional district.

"I'm excited about this next chapter of my life," Feely said, via ESPN. "I think that I feel God's calling pressing me into service, and that's really what I believe it is, is the civil service. I don't believe we have enough politicians that get into political office not for self-serving measures and that get into political office and don't want it to be a career, and that's what I believe.

"I believe it is very much a civil service."

Feely’s official Twitter has grown increasingly right-wing in his ramp-up to the announcement, including a joke about the wrongfully deported Americans in El Salvador.

Ultimately, Feely is hoping to find more meaning from his new endeavor than he had on the broadcast, which he said to have found less fulfilling than anticipated.

"I felt that there was a calling to something greater and that there was a different platform that I wanted to try to utilize to have a positive impact on people," Feely said.

"I've always been involved in politics and done a lot of different events for different politicians, local and national, and I've always liked thinking about political issues and talking about political issues, so, that's not new, but leaving broadcasting after I'd worked so hard to get where I was and to step aside, and to say I think there's a greater calling, yeah, that was different for me."

Feely credited the assassination attempt of President Donald Trump in the summer of 2024 as one of the chief reasons for his pivot to politics.