Jon Dorenbos, the veteran long snapper for the Philadelphia Eagles, auditioned for "America's Got Talent" for Tuesday and wowed the judges, the audience members his teammates with his astounding card tricks. He even joked that doing magic tricks could be his next career after he leaves the NFL.
During this week's episode of "America's Got Talent," Dorenbos surprised the judges by walking on stage and proving that he's certainly not just a professional football player.
"As much as we can achieve, there's always new beginnings, and there's always new things to do," he said during the show. "So in the off-season, I tour around and do magic and comedy."
His performance on the show started out pretty basic, since it only consisted of a deck of cards and was clearly meant for a small audience. But then, as he was doing his card counting and shuffling routine, he mixed it with his energetic persona. And, one by one, he started performing his tricks on judges Howie Mandel, Mel B., Heidi Klum and Simon Cowell.
Clearly, Dorenbos is a very talented performer as he left the judges and audience members in awe with his tricks. He even joked that being a magician could be his next career once his stint with the Eagles ends.
"Well, let's be honest. The NFL stands for 'not for long,'" he joked after Cowell asked him regarding his 14-year career in football. "You've always got to have a back-up plan, and this is a pretty good one."
Although Dorenbos' card routine very entertaining, ESPN noted that the athlete learned to do these kinds of tricks during a very dark time in his childhood. According to the sports news site, when Dorenbos was 12 years old, his father Alan murdered his mother while they were living in Seattle.
Alan was convicted of the crime and served 11 years in prison. As Dorenbos was growing up without his parents, he was raised by an extended family. To cope with the grim situation, he started learning and performing magic tricks and has never stopped even after he became an NFL player.
