Morgan Envisioned Mission While Still With Titans

More than 12 months removed from a nine-year playing career, Derrick Morgan has the time – and the means – to try and make a difference for minorities in the United States.

His motivation came years earlier, when he was still a member of the Tennessee Titans defense. That is when he recognized “this restlessness that I had in my spirit,” he told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution this week.

These days Morgan runs the Kngdm Impact Fund, which invests in developmental projects for select areas of cities to which he has a personal connection, including Nashville where he spent his entire NFL career. Morgan also has put money into his hometown of Coatesville, Pa., his college home of Atlanta (he attended Georgia Tech) and Austin, Tex., home of his business partner.

The strategy is known as impact investing.

From the AJC:

Morgan believed that the issues that he saw plaguing communities of color – “mass incarceration, police brutality, income inequality, the whole economic landscape of inequality,” he said – could be addressed on a larger scale through investments that have the potential to improve communities and their economic conditions.

Tennessee selected Morgan 16th overall in the 2010 NFL Draft. Over the course of 118 games (106 starts), he played defensive end and outside linebacker and registered 44 1/2 sacks, sixth most in franchise history.

In his later seasons, he became an outspoken advocate in the push to allow NFL players to use cannabis (aka marijuana) to combat the physical effects of the sport. He also started a movement that spread among many members of the defense to rely strictly on a plant-based diet.

At the same time, he laid the groundwork for what he planned to do in his post-NFL life.

“My why was, how can I effect positive change and be a part of the social-justice solution?” Morgan told the AJC.

Recent events such as the financial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the death of George Floyd while in the custody of Minneapolis police only have reinforced his belief in his current pursuit. The public response – whether peaceful protests or riots – signal a frustration and desperation that, Morgan believes, can best be addressed through opportunity.

“(Watching Floyd’s death) does something to you as a human, and if it doesn’t, there’s something wrong with you,” Morgan said. “I just feel like it’s a perfect storm for all these different ingredients that are coming to the surface, and you see it manifesting in outbursts and outrage and anger and destruction. So, I get it. I completely understand.”

And he already had tried something about it.