Former Seattle Seahawks receiver Doug Baldwin standing out as tech CEO – Seattle Seahawks Blog

RENTON, Wash. — Doug Baldwin is a businessman now, but his body still thinks he’s a football player.

The former Seattle Seahawks wide receiver is more than three-and-a-half years removed from his last NFL snap and nearly as far into his new career in the tech and investment fields. As is the case with many former retired players, the passage of time has done little to reset an internal clock that, as training camp approaches every summer, tells him it’s go time.

“My body’s been conditioned to do this for over 24 years,” Baldwin, 33, told ESPN. “Your body just doesn’t stop when you say stop. It’s not just the physical part of it. It’s the mental and emotional part of it.”

Without football to expend that tension, Baldwin struggled when his eight-year NFL career ended following the 2018 season. It didn’t help that his body was a wreck, requiring four surgeries after he played through a host of injuries in his final year. He wrestled with the retirement decision and even tried to stay in shape after his surgeries, just in case.

Baldwin made a name for himself as a Super Bowl champion, a two-time Pro Bowler and the third-leading receiver in franchise history, as he caught 493 passes for 6,563 yards and 49 touchdowns. And he made his money — roughly $40 million in gross on-field earnings, per Spotrac. He had also just become a father, with the first of his three children arriving that spring.

Retiring was the right decision, but it was hard.

“I’m not a doctor, but I would say for the first eight months after retiring, I was in a clinical depression,” Baldwin said. “I know I was. You can’t tell me otherwise. I was hurting.”

He’s in a much better place now. And a much different one.

Baldwin is the founder and CEO of a venture capital…