Reggie Kelly

Reggie Kelly always stayed ready.

He understood that every additional season was a gift, never a guarantee. With that awareness came a quiet truth: each year also carried him closer to the end of his playing career. Nobody plays professional football forever. Kelly accepted that reality early and instead of fearing it, he planned for it.

He was fortunate to arrive in the NFL surrounded by veterans who invested in him from the start.

“When I first joined the NFL with Atlanta, veterans like Jesse Tuggle and Terrence Mathis took me under their wing,” Kelly said. “They not only taught me how to be a professional but also urged me to prepare for life after football. Right away, they told me, 'Hey, man, prepare yourself for after the game of football.' At the time, I thought that was strange, but looking back, they were getting me ready for what comes next.”

“They taught me to be professional on and off the field, to handle interviews properly after losses, and to build connections that would help after football was over."

Those lessons followed Kelly well beyond his playing days. After a memorable 13-year career with the Atlanta Falcons and Cincinnati Bengals, he didn’t scramble to find his next chapter. He had already started writing it without knowing it.

That mindset of preparation helped when Kelly and his wife were nudged by peers to do something with their post-event meals, especially after youth camps. Their hospitality laid the groundwork for something bigger.

The dishes—rooted in Kelly’s family recipes—had a way of turning good meals into memorable ones. Eventually, Kelly listened. During the offseasons, he and his wife began laying the groundwork for a business they could build together, transforming something deeply personal into a shared purpose that connected others through joy and delicious food.

“What I failed to realize was I remember when my wife and I were dating in high school, we always talked about starting a business together, and I had forgotten about that, but she didn't,” Kelly said, laughing. “We had talked a long time ago about starting a business together, becoming entrepreneurs together, and she was going to hold me to that. I was trying to find every excuse to get out of it. But my wife knows, like everybody who really knows me, I'm a man of my word, so when I say I'm going to do something, she knows that I will do it, and she makes sure that I stick to what I said I was going to do. And lo and behold, this is probably one of the best business decisions I could have made to start this business.”

Kelly transitioned from the gridiron to the cast-iron seamlessly into entrepreneurship, launching his own food business, KYVAN® Foods, named after his children, which has been operational for 14 years. Inspired by his southern roots growing up in Aberdeen, Mississippi, Kelly specializes in innovative, never-before-seen salsas, BBQ sauces, and seasonings sold to grocery stores such as Publix and Kroger, as well as food service distributors.

What started as preparation became purpose.

Preparation didn’t stop with business. Kelly applied the same mindset to his long-term health and well-being, highlighting the value of The Trust’s resources, particularly its Brain and Body assessment. In addition to the assessments, Kelly also mentioned the importance of The Trust’s partnership with Exos, which provides customized training, nutrition, and wellness support designed to extend players’ quality of life long after their careers end.

Kelly took advantage of this benefit to receive the comprehensive body assessment—examining everything from his nervous and musculoskeletal systems to cardiovascular health—at no cost. Getting detailed results within four days stood out, as did the depth of the process. Specialists walked him through every finding and followed it with a clear, personalized game plan.

Playing professional football on Sunday afternoons was a full-circle moment for Kelly.

Growing up in Mississippi, Sundays were sacred in more ways than one. Kelly remembers waking up to the smell of breakfast made entirely from scratch—biscuits, eggs folded with just the right amount of cheese, and plates filled with bacon and smoked sausage. After church, where the congregation often grew restless as kickoff approached, the day revolved around football. Kelly, his father, and his brother would settle into the family room with a big bowl of popcorn and watch NFL games for hours.

After games, the neighborhood kids would imitate NFL players in backyards, turning football into a blend of imagination, family, and possibility.

That childhood dream came rushing back in 1999 during the NFL Draft. Surrounded only by close family—his parents, brother, and high school sweetheart—Kelly waited without fanfare as the first round passed. When the phone rang in the back of the house during the second round, he resisted answering, afraid to miss the moment on television. His father insisted. On the other end was the Atlanta Falcons' head coach, asking if Kelly wanted to join the team.

Surrounded by family, it all became real. The years of discipline, sacrifice, and unwavering support had paid off. A childhood dream had become his life, and Kelly knew he was living a blessing he would never take for granted.

Inducted into the Mississippi State Athletics Hall of Fame, Kelly has enjoyed a blessed life of achievement on the field and transformation off of it. A second-round NFL Draft pick in 1999, Kelly had a strong senior year at Mississippi State in 1998, earning First-team All-SEC honors.

Kelly was Mississippi State's SEC Legend in 2024 and won the Ed Block Courage Award in 2007, an annual honor presented to a player from each team in the National Football League (NFL) who their teammates vote for as a role model of inspiration, sportsmanship, and courage.

While those honors fill Kelly with pride, it’s his post-football life that makes him proudest by serving others and sharing his family recipes. Kelly offers advice for those pivoting careers.

Preparation, Kelly has learned, is about believing in what comes next with confidence, purpose, and hope.

“My advice to anyone entering a new chapter is that you are more than just an athlete,” Kelly said. “Football is simply a platform the good Lord has blessed us with based on our gifts. When football ends, your life does not. It’s all about preparing for your next chapter and using your skills to maximize opportunities, because you have multiple talents. Whatever you’re passionate about, you likely have the assets to excel and fulfill that passion.”

This article was written by Rob Knox for The Trust. Knox is an award-winning professional, a member of the Lincoln (Pa.) Athletics Hall of Fame, and adjunct instructor at Temple University. In addition to having work published in SLAM magazine, the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Washington Post, and Diverse Issues In Higher Education, Knox enjoyed a distinguished career as an athletics communicator for Lincoln, Kutztown, Coppin State, Towson, and UNC Greensboro. He also worked at ESPN and for the Delaware County Daily Times. Recently, Knox was honored by CSC with the Mary Jo Haverbeck Trailblazer Award and the NCAA with its Champion of Diversity award. Named an HBCU Legend by SI.com, Knox is a graduate of Lincoln University and a past president of the College Sports Communicators, formerly CoSIDA.