Navy Denies Player's Request To Delay Service For NFL Dream

ANNAPOLIS, MD — Cameron Kinley has had two lifelong dreams: playing in the National Football League and serving the United States as a member of the armed forces.

But now, the former stands in jeopardy due to the latter.

The United States Navy denied a request from Kinley, the captain of the Navy football team last year and the Naval Academy’s 2021 class president, to delay his military service to play in the NFL, CNN and others have reported this week. Kinley has been ordered to commission in the Navy as an ensign.

Kinley, a cornerback who grew up in Memphis, signed with the defending Super Bowl champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers and took part in the team’s rookie minicamp with the Navy’s permission, according to ESPN.

“I have spent the past week processing my emotions, as it is very difficult to have been this close to achieving a childhood dream and having it taken away from me,” Kinley said in a tweet that is no longer viewable.

Acting Secretary Thomas W. Harker declined to forward delay requests from recent Navy graduates to the Secretary of Defense, a spokesman for the Secretary of the Navy told CNN.

“When students accept admission and continue their education in this program, there is an understanding and acknowledgement that they will upon graduation be commissioned,” Capt. Jereal Dorsey wrote in a statement. “Every Midshipman attends on the same terms and each has the same responsibility to serve. Exceptions to that commitment to serve have been rightfully rare.”

The Navy’s stance is in contrast to the other service academies — West Point and the Air Force — which have allowed football players that signed with NFL teams this year to delay their service requirements.

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