Raymond Bernard Seals (June 17, 1965 – April 4, 2025) was an American professional football player who was a defensive end in the National Football League (NFL). He was notable for being one of the rare players to have made it to the NFL without ever having attended college.[1] Seals started in Super Bowl XXX[2] as a member of the Pittsburgh Steelers.[3]
Seals lettered in football at Anthony A. Henninger High School in Syracuse, New York.
Seals went from playing for the minor-league Syracuse Express of the Empire Football League[4] to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 1989. He went to the Steelers in 1994 as a free agent and played two seasons as their starting right defensive end.[5] He was injured in 1996, his third season with the Steelers, and finished with Carolina in 1997.
Seals was famous for batting away a pass by then rookie quarterback Brett Favre, only to have it be caught by Favre himself, for the first completion in his long and storied career.[6]
Seals was inducted into the American Football Association's Semi-Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1992.[7] Seals's cousin, Jonny Gammage, was killed after a traffic stop by Brentwood police officers in 1995.[8][9]
Seals died in Tampa, Florida on April 4, 2025, at the age of 59.[10][11]
