Brandon Magee is trading in his molded football cleats for some baseball spikes.
Magee was a linebacker and special-teamer on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers until Tuesday night, when the team released him. Rather than attempt to join another NFL squad, though, the 24-year-old decided to try his hand at his second love: Baseball.
Magee made the short trip down the road to Fort Myers on Wednesday to try out for the Boston Red Sox as an outfielder.
“I’m grateful for the opportunity they gave me at the time,” Magee told the Tampa Bay Times. “Right now, I’m focused on spring training.”
Magee, who played both sports in college at Arizona State, has been with the Red Sox before. In fact, Boston selected him in the 23rd round of the 2012 MLB draft, four years after the Tampa Bay Rays drafted him in the 29th round out of high school and one year after the Oakland Athletics took him in the 21st round. Magee also worked with the Red Sox in extended spring training last year before signing with the Bucs in the 2014 offseason.
The Southern California native wasn’t taken in the 2013 NFL draft, but he signed with the Dallas Cowboys shortly after. He made his NFL debut that year with the Cleveland Browns and appeared in eight games with them before joining Tampa Bay, where he played in nine games last season before going on injured reserve in December.
It seems unlikely Magee will crack the Red Sox’s crowded outfield, but at the very least, maybe he can give Hanley Ramirez’s huge muscles a run for their money.
Thumbnail photo via Jason Getz/USA TODAY Sports Images
