JJ Birden
Former NFL Pro
JJ Birden
Former NFL Pro
Biography
To appreciate the Hero’s Journey that is JJ Birden’s life, you must first know a few important facts:
- Less than 6% of high school seniors go on to play college football
- Of the 150,000 draft-eligible college football players, only 253 (less than 1%) are selected in the NFL draft
- The average NFL career is less than 2 years
- The average NFL player is 6’2, 245 lbs
The odds of making it to the NFL are staggering. The odds of staying in the NFL are even more amazing. The odds of doing both are the most astronomical of all when you’re undersized and play one of the sport’s most physical positions. Good thing JJ Birden never cared about the odds of success.
Despite being the #1 high school wide receiver in Oregon, JJ did not receive a single D1 scholarship offer. He was fast enough for sure, but at 5’9 and 133 lbs., JJ was just too small to play with the big boys. At least that’s what the naysayers thought; JJ knew he was good enough, and he set his mind to achieving the impossible. All he needed was an opportunity, no matter how small, even if it meant making his own.
After receiving a scholarship to the University of Oregon for track & field, JJ earned a walk-on spot with the football team in his sophomore year. He was at the bottom of the depth chart and nowhere near seeing actual playing time on the field, but his coaches and teammates did not know how hard he was willing to work. It did not take long for them to find out: JJ became a starter the next season, his junior year.
But like all long-shot stories and underdog tales, JJ’s trials were just beginning. The remainder of his college career was plagued with injuries and unimpressive stats. Still, JJ’s speed and toughness were enough to earn him an invite to the NFL Combine, a yearly gathering of the top 300 college prospects in the nation. Unsurprising to his teammates, coaches, and fans, JJ dominated the Combine. His performance earned him the 216th pick in the 8th round of the 1988 NFL Draft. That’s when the going got tough.
A series of injuries and failed physicals culminated in one of the darkest moments in JJ’s early career, and one of the hardest weeks imaginable for anyone: JJ was rejected by 4 NFL teams in 5 days. He could have walked away from the game and given up hope in spite of what seemed like insurmountable odds, but JJ did not even flinch. Instead, he did what he’s always done when faced with adversity—he found a way to win.
JJ would go on to play 9 seasons in the NFL (remember, the average career is less than a quarter of that) despite never being the biggest, strongest or most physical guy on the field. What kept JJ on the field for almost a decade was not t just how he played the game but rather how he approached every day like it was game day. JJ was willing to put in the work and do whatever it took to improve.
JJ is a best-selling author, entrepreneur, motivational speaker, and performance coach. Drawing from his NFL career and life experience, he teaches others how to overcome obstacles and execute when it counts. His new signature keynote, Beat the Coverage, equips audiences with the tools to thrive under pressure, stay disciplined, and win in business and life.
He’s been married to his college sweetheart, Raina, for over 35 years, and together they’ve raised 8 children (3 biological and 5 nieces and nephews). JJ and his family live in the Phoenix area, where he continues to inspire others with his message of ownership, grit and growth.
Speaker Videos
Sizzle Reel
There BETTER Be an “I” in Team
When Opportunity Knocks: A Conversation with Former NFL Player JJ Birden
Speech Topics
Beat The Coverage
Spot the openings. Close the gap. And deliver results. Every time.
Today’s professionals face relentless pressure, tight competition, rapid change, burnout, layoffs, and uncertainty. Most people respond by working harder, but hustling without a strategy leads to burnout. Without a clear framework, people stall, overthink, or give up when things get tough.
JJ Birden knows pressure. As one of the lightest players in the NFL at 5’10”, 157 lbs., he overcame the odds to play 9 seasons at the highest level. After football, he built a successful business, raised a family of eight, and continues to train leaders across industries.
Beat The Coverage comes from JJ’s NFL days as a wide receiver. In every play, his job was to identify the defensive coverage, whether it was man-to-man or zone, and find the hole. That mindset helped him have a much longer career than the NFL average of less than 2 years.
Today, it means something much bigger. In business and life, we all face Coverage: such as competition, economic pressures, customer behavior, self-doubt, personal setbacks, and even internal challenges like complacency due to success.
Sometimes the hole is in the market. Sometimes it’s in your weaknesses. His message helps leaders and teams recognize the gaps (or holes). And understand the importance of practicing or getting in the reps to master their strengths to help overcome or exploit them and execute with precision.
Beat The Coverage is not just a sports metaphor; it’s a system for staying one step ahead under pressure and creating wins in any environment. It’s battle-tested in sports, business, and life. Audiences will walk away equipped with a strategic mindset to win in adversity. They’ll learn how to anticipate challenges, lead under pressure, and turn uncertainty into advantage, with repeatable tools they can use immediately in their business and life.
Key Takeaways
Six Strategic Steps to Win in Business and Life
- Know the Field - How to assess your environment so you lead proactively, not reactively.
- Find the Holes – The skill of spotting hidden opportunities in chaos.
- Play to Your Strengths / Cover Weak Spots – Maximize your edge while managing risk.
- Draw Up the Game Plan – Strategy beats hustle, build a repeatable system that works.
- Put in the Reps – Consistency under pressure is what separates amateurs from pros.
- Execute & Adjust – Why adaptability, not perfection, is the key to sustained success.
Seize Your Opportunities
A call to action to individuals to recognize and maximize opportunities!
Businesses have always aimed to get more out of their people, but it is becoming increasingly hard to provide resources, instruction, and encouragement that motivate employees to show up and give their best. To truly succeed in today’s extremely competitive business world, organizations need employees who are genuinely motivated to give their best, improve each day, and do whatever it takes to win. Unfortunately, not everyone has this capacity; JJ Birden does, and he can help anyone develop it, too.
Seize Your Opportunities focuses on the individual and what one must do for success as part of a larger group, no matter the odds, and no matter how much hard work it requires.
As a former NFL wide receiver, JJ knows what it takes to reach the highest level of performance and has the capacity to maintain it. Many of the successful principles he learned as a professional athlete have helped him thrive in the business world as an entrepreneur and professional speaker. In this presentation, JJ shares his winning principles and strategies and teaches audiences how to maximize and seize the opportunities in their lives.
Success is not going to be given to you. You have to achieve success; and once you have it, you can't stay at that same level. You have to continue to work to fight mediocrity and complacency. JJ will show you how.
Key Takeaways:
- Cultivating a winning mindset and unwavering determination
- Discovering, clarifying, and standing by your Why
- The role of discipline and self-drive in achieving success
- Overcoming challenges to reach your breakthrough
- The dangers of complacency in halting progress
- Sustaining momentum through ongoing personal growth
**Available with polling.
Winning as an Underdog
Being an underdog gives you a STEALTH opportunity to win!
In today's fiercely competitive landscape, organizations often find themselves at a perceived disadvantage when pitted against industry giants with larger market shares, extensive budgets, and formidable resources. However, this perceived weakness can be transformed into a strategic advantage with the right guidance. Rather than limiting their growth potential, these organizations can harness their unique strengths to foster alignment, momentum, and ultimately, sustainable growth.
Drawing inspiration from his own journey as an underdog, JJ Birden, a former NFL player and successful business professional, shares invaluable insights in his compelling keynote, Winning as an Underdog. Despite facing odds stacked against him, where the average NFL player towered over him by 43%, JJ mastered the "underdog mentality," leveraging his perceived shortcomings to fuel his success both on and off the field. Through over a decade of experience in the medical and fitness equipment industries, JJ continued to embody this mentality, defying expectations and achieving remarkable success.
In his captivating keynote, Winning as an Underdog, JJ empowers attendees to embrace their underdog status and capitalize on every opportunity. With a blend of undeniable truths, actionable strategies, and inspiring anecdotes, JJ guides participants through a collaborative experience, showcasing how underdogs can not only thrive but also revolutionize established business norms. Join JJ Birden as he reveals how underdogs are the true catalysts for innovation and change in the business world.
Key Takeaways:
- Recognizing the strategic benefits of embracing underdog status.
- Knowing how to cultivate a mindset that thrives on challenges and adversity.
- Implementing JJ's proven framework for narrowing the underdog disadvantage.
- Maintaining unwavering determination and resilience on the journey from underdog to industry leader.
**Available with polling.
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