Carl Nassib was highly praised for his bravery to come out and reveal to the whole world that he is gay. However, it wasn't easy, to say the least. In fact, the then-Las Vegas Raiders defensive end admitted he had a lot of fears before making the revelation.

Speaking to Good Morning America, the 29-year-old free agent shared his thought process about the decision and how he “agonized” whether he should do it or not. In the end, he opted to make it since he really wanted to show everyone that sexual orientation doesn't define who a person is and what they can or cannot do.

“I stared at the phone for, like, an hour just looking at it, trying to hype myself up. The last thing I said was like, ‘You know what — for the kids.' And: pressed post,” Nassib explained, per ABC News.

“I came out to my close friends and family years ago. And I wanted to do it publicly because I wanted to stay ahead of the narrative. I just wanted to own the story and make sure I did it on my terms. One of my biggest fears was that I would only be remembered for being gay.”

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Carl Nassib certainly didn't make a mistake. His announcement was met with massive support, with his then-Raiders teammates showing even more love to him.

Sure enough, those fears were probably replaced with a huge sigh of relief. Being the first active NFL player to come out and be honest with his sexual orientation was certainly difficult, but Nassib opened up a path for a lot of people.

Now, hopefully, Nassib gets a chance to continue playing football and inspire many others.