San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Chris Conley. Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

NFL veteran retires to pursue awesome new venture

By Steve DelVecchio | Last updated Jun 7, 2025 12:58 PM ET

Longtime NFL wide receiver Chris Conley has decided to retire to pursue a very interesting new career.

Conley, who was most recently with the San Francisco 49ers, announced on Saturday that he is retiring. His agent told Ian Rapoport of NFL Media that Conley is going back to the University of Georgia to attend film school.

Conley is hoping to become a filmmaker.

Veteran NFL WR Chris Conley, who most recently played for the #49ers, has decided to retire after 10 seasons to follow his dream, his agent Jonathan Perzley of @SPORTSTARSNYC said.

Conley is heading to film school back at UGA to pursue dreams of being a film maker. So cool. . pic.twitter.com/qOctLS5WYS
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) June 7, 2025

Conley played 10 seasons in the NFL. The 32-year-old mostly played on special teams in his stints with five different teams — the Kansas City Chiefs, Jacksonville Jaguars, Houston Texans, Tennessee Titans and 49ers.

Conley had a strong career at Georgia before being drafted by the Chiefs in the third round (No. 76 overall) in 2015. His most productive offensive year came with the Jaguars in 2019, when Conley had 47 catches for 775 yards and five touchdowns.

Now, Conley is leaving football behind in hopes of making it in Hollywood. That is a story you may never hear again for an NFL player who lasted 10 seasons in the league.

Steve DelVecchio

Steve is a veteran writer who has covered a variety of sports and pop culture topics for more than 15 years. In addition to Yardbarker, his work has been featured on prominent digital publications including Larry Brown Sports, MSN and FOX Sports. The UConn graduate has published more than 40,000 stories and is one of the most experienced trending news writers in the country

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