R.K. Russell

R.K. Russell is a former NFL football player, writer, poet, essayist, and Emmy-nominated producer who made history in August 2019 by becoming the first out active NFL player to identify as bisexual. A decorated defensive end who played for the Dallas Cowboys and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, he has since built a career as a writer, advocate, and storyteller.

Since coming out, Russell has written about his experience as a Black queer man in sports for The New York Times, The Guardian, The Los Angeles Times, Out magazine, and others. He spearheaded multiple NFL Pride initiatives and has been honored by the Human Rights Campaign and by Gay Times as Sportsperson of the Year. His short documentary Finding Free, detailing his coming out experience, was nominated for Best Short Documentary at the 43rd Annual Sports Emmys and won awards at the 2022 Webby Awards and the 60th New York Film Festival.

Russell's memoir The Yards Between Us: A Memoir of Life, Love, and Football (Andscape/ESPN, 2023) was featured at the National Book Festival. His move into comics writing brought him to the Eisner Award-nominated anthology Come Out and Play: The Queer Sports Project (Stacked Deck Press).

In 2026, the Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards celebrated its most diverse nominee class in the 38-year history of the awards, with a historic number of Black creators nominated across categories. Russell received a 2026 Eisner nomination for Best Short Story for "Football Is Not War," co-written with Wilfred Santiago, in Come Out and Play: The Queer Sports Project (Stacked Deck Press).