Former NFL All-Pro cornerback Charles Tillman, who played for the Chicago Bears and Carolina Panthers, opted to swap his cleats for a job working for the FBI
Oscar Maung-Haley US Sports Reporter
18:14 ET, 04 Jul 2025Updated 18:15 ET, 04 Jul 2025
MINNEAPOLIS, MN – FEBRUARY 03: Charles Tillman poses for Photographs on the Red Carpet at NFL Honors during Super Bowl LII week on February 3, 2018, at Northrop at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, MN. (Photo by Rich Graessle/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Former NFL All-Pro cornerback Charles ‘Peanut’ Tillman, who made around $50 million during his incredible 13-year career, is now working as an FBI agent.
The 44-year-old, who spoke earlier this year to Mirror Sports U.S. about Caleb Williams, spent his entire NFL career with the Chicago Bears, bar one season, his last, with the Carolina Panthers back in 2015. During that time, Tillman, nicknamed ‘Peanut’ by his Aunt Renee due to how he looked as a baby, earned two Pro Bowl selections, an All-Pro nod in 2012 and two appearances in the Super Bowl with the Bears and Panthers.
While the Bears and Panthers came up short, Tillman is fondly remembered by NFL fans, in part for his skill at punching out the football from opposing players, a move that came to be known as ‘the peanut punch’. So good was Tillman at performing it, he is tied the NFL’s record for forced fumbles in a single-season with 10.
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However, having opted to hang up his cleats in 2016 following Carolina’s Super Bowl defeat, Tillman decided he wanted to serve the public.
He enrolled in the FBI’s 20-week Training Academy program in 2018 having spent some time following retirement as a broadcaster and analyst for FOX Sports.
But in the end, public service was how Tillman, who won the Walter Payton Man of the Year award back in 2013, wanted to spend his retirement, despite having made millions from his NFL career.
“I just wanted to do my part and give back,” Tillman told the Daily Mail. “My dad’s my hero, and I just wanted to get back and get into public service.”
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“I work with a lot of good people who do some pretty amazing things.
“It’s a thankless job. You don’t get credit for it. You do your job. You’re not in the paper. You do the job because you don’t want to be in the paper. You do it because you’re protecting people.”
Of course, due to the nature of his new job, Tillman can’t exactly shout from the rooftops what he gets up to daily. However, the former NFL cornerback is fine with that.
“I’ve had it come up a couple of times where you do something pretty cool,” Tillman said, adding: “You’re just like, ‘Man, that was we did a really good thing today.’ Nobody will really know about it, and I’m okay with that.
Charles Tillman was named the NFL’s Walter Payton Man of the Year back in 2014(Image: Getty)
“I’m okay with my name not being in the paper and I’m okay with people not knowing. But, I did something pretty fulfilling, and I’m happy to say I helped somebody.”
He continued: “You could be a professional football player, you could be a teacher. Football doesn’t have anything to do with doing that line of work
“I’ve seen people who are journalists and whatnot, and they’re able to do the job just as good as me, if not better.
“So, me being an athlete didn’t have anything to do with joining that organization. I found an organization that I was passionate about joining and really doing some good work with.”