Vegan NFL Players Updated May 2020. Let me know if there are any additions or errors
Player Year vegan Quit Veganism Not Playing Vegans Currently Playing Notes
Cam Newton Feb. 2019 Injured week 2. Never healed. Out for the 2019-2020 season.
Jonnu Smith Only reference to veganism is Charity Morgan cooked meals for him.
Tyrann Mathieu 2016 Tweet eating chicken 2017. No further mention of veganism
Brandon Flowers 2015 Last played 2016. Retired Aug 2017
Demarious Thomas July 2017 ? vegan. Troy Renck 2018 asked him is he was still on a vegan diet. He responded "what diet?" https://www.thedenverchannel.com/sports/broncos/broncos-receiver-demaryius-thomas-bulks-up-von-miller-keeps-it-real Another 2018 article talked about a 'new' diet, contrasting it with his vegan diet changes and mentioned it cut out pork, seafood, dairy, and alcohol. No mention of chicken and beef. Implies he's eating meat, but doesn't outright state his diet. No mention of veganism or his diet on Twitter. https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/nfl/demaryius-thomas-hoping-new-diet-helps-him-remain-healthy/ar-BBLGj1F Another article again mentions a limited diet, but didn't exclude red meat or eggs. http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000000945912/article/demaryius-thomas-reinvigorated-by-radical-lifestyle-change Ankle injury just before season end 2019/2020
Aaron Rodgers Never a vegan. "Almost" a vegan
Bennie Fowler July2017 ? vegan. Nothing about it since Jan2018. There's a VERY extensive article on him in NYDailyNews in Sept. 2019 that doesn't say anything about his diet. There's nothing on his own Twitter, Facebook, and instagram pages. Not even food pics! https://www.nydailynews.com/sports/football/giants/ny-bennie-fowler-silver-spoon-kobe-bryant-20200127-y3pusmcg6rarfd7aqrmedvmwpi-story.html Hamstring injury. Just resigned by Giants after having previously been released by them. Currently playing.
Theo Riddick Summer 2017 Still vegan in 2018, but nothing on it since then. Injury and early season end 2018. Now Out 6-8 weeks with fractured shoulder. No further info on him or his diet since that time.
Brandon Mebane Never vegan. Eats meat 1x/day
Andrew Luck From a 2016 Men's Journal Interview, he's eats steak, fish, and eggs. 2019 GQ interview, he eats eggs and hamburgers. Sounds like he was never vegan.
Arie Kouandjio Summer 2017 Torn quad 2018. Unsigned this year
Grady Jarrett A single PETA article says he's vegan
Kendall Langford 2018 Tweet eating steak Released without a single game in 2017. Hasn't played since
David Carter 2014 Never played a season as a vegan
Colin Kaepernick Summer 2016 Unsigned free agent. Hasn't worked in 3 years.
Russell Wilson Never vegan
Ameer Abdullah Pescatarian https://www.freep.com/story/sports/nfl/lions/2017/09/16/detroit-lions-ameer-abdullah-theo-riddick/668905001/
Trent Williams 2017 quit after training camp. Just a few months https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/2017/12/20/veggie-might-titans-d-gets-boost-after-going-vegetarian/108771904/ https://www.plantbasednews.org/culture/washington-lineman-trent-williams-is-no-longer-vegan-his-excuse-will-infuriate-you
Malcolm Jenkins July 2017 ? Nothing about it since December 2018 in any article or social media. He's even done several interviews where he doesn't mention it. Playing 2019. His second season as a vegan
Ricky Williams 2005 (vegetarian) Retired after 2011 season- played 5 seasons as a vegetarian
Derrick Morgan Summer 2017 Played 1 season as a vegan then retired 2019
Deuce Lutui Never vegan
Jurrell Casey Only a vegan for a short time. Now pescaterian
David Johnson Only vegan for a short time
Wesley Woodyard Only vegan for a short time
Gerald McCoy Only vegan for a short time
Tony Rodriguez Only vegan for a short time
Montell Owens Only vegan for a short time
Tony Fiammetta Only vegan for a short time
Pat McAfee Only vegan for a short time
Tom Brady Never vegan. Eats 20% meat https://www.forbes.com/sites/brucelee/2017/02/04/this-is-what-39-year-old-super-bowl-qb-tom-brady-eats/#7f14b56c4797
Marcus Mariota A single reference to his veganism to lose a bit of weight
DaQuan Jones Tweeting lots of chicken dishes. Was eating chicken even when 'vegan'. https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/2017/12/20/veggie-might-titans-d-gets-boost-after-going-vegetarian/108771904/
Arian Foster July 2012 Only vegan for a short time
Griff Whaley 2014 Injured preseason 2017. Hasn't played since.
Lucious Smith 2006 Retired in 1985. Never played as a vegan
Rishard Matthews 2017 2018 was his worst year ever. Retired before 2019 season.
DeMarco Murray 2017 2017 was his worst season ever. Injured on last game of 2017 season, then retired
DJ Swearington 2015 went pescaterian https://www.redskins.com/news/meat-free-safety-d-j-swearinger-embraces-the-vegan-lifestyle-20244364 nfl
Vegan Pro Hockey Players
Player Year vegan Quit Veganism Not Playing Vegans Currently Playing Notes
TJ Galiardi 2015 Played only 27 games in 2 seasons as a vegan, then retired
Michael Zigomanis 2011 Played 3 seasons as a vegan before retiring
Georges Laraque 2009 Played 1 season as a vegan then retired
Vegan Soccer/Football Players
Player Year vegan Quit Veganism Not Playing Vegans Currently Playing Sport
Hector Bellerin 2016 Nothing about his diet on social media since his injury in January 2019 Surgery to ACL January 31, 2019. Back on team, but still sitting on sidelines. Jan 2020 Finally playing again after many weeks out due to hamstring injury. Out almost a full year with injuries. Now playing Feb 2020 after being out for a full year with injuries Pro Soccer
Jermaine Defoe 2017 2018 Eats a pescaterian diet. https://inews.co.uk/news/health/jermain-defoe-meat-free-diet-vegan-fitness-what-the-health-netflix-documentary-512918 Apparantly was vegan for a while but quit permanently after vegans harassed him for eating fish. https://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/latest-news/rangers-star-jermain-defoe-abused-20824102 Pro Soccer
Alex Morgan ? Is 'flexible' and 'mostly vegetarian' now that she's pregnant. https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/soccer/2019/11/06/alex-morgan-pregnant-uswnt-star-plans-playing-2020-olympics/4172346002/ Sept 2019 Season ending knee injury . https://abcnews.go.com/Sports/soccer-star-alex-morgan-announces-knee-injury-remainder/story?id=65663346 Pregnant now and due April 2020. Woman's soccer
Fabian Delph Never vegan. https://www.tribalfootball.com/articles/man-city-fullback-delph-i-meditate-but-i-m-no-vegan-4235544 Soccer
Chris Smalling June 2018 https://www.menshealth.com/uk/nutrition/a26656882/chris-smalling-vegan-diet/ Still vegan and playing as of Feb 2020. Soccer
The Forest Green Rovers Football Team The cafeteria/restaurant and owner is vegan, but not the players https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/football/7716040/forest-green-rovers-vegan-chicken-fish-chips/ Soccer
Jack Wilshere 2018 Retired in 2019 due to multiple injuries... https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/jack-wilshere-considered-retiring-due-16503245 getting hernia surgery in 2020 https://www.90min.com/posts/6546965-jack-wilshere-undergoes-hernia-operation-following-latest-injury-setback
Vegan NBA Players
Player Year vegan Quit Veganism Not Playing Vegans Currently Playing Sport
Kyrie Irving 2017. Still vegan? Has been chronically injured. Says he can barely put his shoulders over his head. He's Out with a knee injury Feb 2020. Out for the season for shoulder surgery as of Feb 2020. Constantly injured. https://www.si.com/nba/2020/02/20/kyrie-irving-shoulder-surgery-out-for-season NBA
Chris Paul 2018 Vegan for a short time (if he ever was) August 2019 USA today shows him eating meat: https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/2019/08/08/plant-based-diets-sports-world-what-alex-morgan-chris-paul-eat/1922055001/ NBA
Wilson Chandler 2016 2019. Iron Deficiency. Had to quit. https://theathletic.com/903837/2019/04/04/blood-dont-lie-the-nba-trend-thats-testing-player-performance-and-privacy-for-knicks-clippers-and-others/?fbclid=IwAR2pyERqYdYpyiP2e7CVf2eIiHohC2GEgWCoqGzxh-bZ3YnImOS911GrjZI and https://hoopshype.com/player/wilson-chandler/page/7/ NBA
Damien Lillard 2017 2018 Lost too much weight https://theundefeated.com/whhw/damian-lillard-ends-strict-vegan-diet/ NBA
DeMarcus Cousins 2020 ACL tear still not healing. Was waived by the Lakers Feb 2020 https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/28752786/sources-lakers-waiving-demarcus-cousins-eyeing-markieff-morris NBA
DeAndre Jordan June 2018. Still vegan 2019 https://twitter.com/DeAndre/status/1199787738200989697?s=20 NBA
John Salley Vegetarian in 1991, Vegan in 2008. Last played 1999-2000 season. Never played as a vegan. https://www.clearlyveg.org/blog/2017/04/22/john-salley-i-became-real-vegetarian-which-vegan/ NBA
JaVale McGee 2016. Still vegan July 2019. https://twitter.com/herbivore_club/status/1150166192977588224?s=20 NBA
Bill Walton Vegetarian for decades Has had 37 orthopedic surgeries Retired NBA
Other Sports
Player Year vegan Quit Veganism Not Playing Vegans Currently Playing Sport
Matt Danzig MMA
Nate Diaz Never vegan, only 'plant based' and 'on and off' vegan. Now he 'digs fish'. https://www.livekindly.co/ufc-fighter-nate-diaz-wins-first-fight-3-years-vegan-diet/ https://www.plantbasednews.org/culture/athlete-on-off-vegan-nate-diaz-speaks-against-tofu MMA