Philadelphia • Early in 2017, after he had reached his professional peak, Chris Long weighed retirement. He had won the Super Bowl in early February as a defensive end for the New England Patriots. Growing up in Charlottesville and starring at the University of Virginia, he never envisioned an NFL career — let alone nine seasons, 59.5 sacks and almost $40 million in salary. He wondered whether he wanted to put his body and mind through another year.
As Long considered his options, one thought surfaced above the rest. In 2015, he had started the Chris Long Foundation, from which he launched several initiatives, the biggest among them raising funds to build clean-water wells in Africa.