At 5’9, 185 lbs, former NFL player Warrick Dunn wasn’t the prototypical sized athlete you’d expect to see suited up on Sundays.
This is especially true when you consider his position: Running Back in the National Football League. Usually the smallest player on the field, Dunn endured (and thrived) for 12 seasons: 6 with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and another 6 with my hometown Atlanta Falcons.
It’s a high risk role. The ball is snapped. The running back takes the handoff. An entire stadium gasps. Eleven defenders crash and collapse. Each play is a chaotic collision of quick decisions and punishing hits.
In 2008 when Dunn retired from the league, he’d played in 181 NFL games, totaling over 10,000 yards throughout his career. He was a 3-time Pro Bowl selection and Offensive Rookie Player of the Year in 1997.
But with all the awards, accolades, and the overwhelming challenge of overcoming his stature, what I find most remarkable about Warrick Dunn’s career is that he only missed 10 total games due to injury, all while averaging over 4 yards per carry.
The average NFL running back plays less than 3 years in the league.
They get injured. Or cut from the team. Or surpassed by younger talent.
Well, I’m a fan and certainly no athlete, but I’ll say that what Warrick Dunn lacked in size, he more than made up for in heart, sheer will, and discipline.
He also understood risk and had an uncanny knack for avoiding bone crushing hits from linemen and blitzing linebackers.
It may not surprise you to know that most retail options traders (over 90%) quit after just a few months or within the first couple of years. The reasons are exactly what you’d expect:
I’ve been a Falcons fan all my life, but a budding options trader for a little less than a year. In fact, I’ve spent my entire career as a right-brained Marketer, hardly the type of quant bro or Excel jockey you might expect to see navigating the financial world of options trading. As I look back and think about my first year trading options, a couple of things come to mind:
None of this should be particularly surprising, but what I’ve learned is that you have to feel the speed and brute force of the markets against your own skill and decision-making for any of it to be truly experienced.
He wasn’t the fastest running back in the league. Soft-spoken, he certainly wasn’t the flashiest. Or the strongest.
He just found ways to avoid negative plays and fall forward. When plays broke down, Dunn proved himself a shifty, twitchy runner, possessed great vision, and was a master of lanes and angles. Even when the opposing defense was in the perfect position to tackle him for losses, Dunn found ways to slice through defenders and fall forward. Small gains add up. Small wins compound.
I can’t say I’ve ever heard Dunn say this in interviews or conversations, but somewhere along the way, I believe his first priority in mind when his number was called was to:
If you’ve never heard of Warrick Dunn or don’t consider yourself a football fan, you might think (from reading this article) that Dunn was a plodding utility player and not a feature of the offense.
Not the case at all.
After a highly successful college career at Florida State, Dunn was a first round NFL pick, and was selected 12th overall by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the 1997 draft. His NFL career is full of long runs, highlight worthy touchdowns, and positive yardage that left defenders confused and out of sorts. As a forever Falcons fan and newbie trader, here’s how I apply Dunn’s football career and philosophy to trading the markets.
Last, but not least – there are a lot of groups, masterminds, and schools for traders like myself who are new to the game. Sometimes, it’s hard to discover the virtuous signals amongst the saturated noise.
I’ll say from first-hand experience that The Dorian Trader is a true community where options wins are multiplied and market losses are divided. This is a supportive group and I’ll vouch for the time I’ve experienced during my membership thus far.
If you’re someone who has considered, debated, or straddled the fence on whether options trading has a place in your life, I’d encourage you to give this forum a chance. I’ve learned a lot, met some amazing people along the way, and am excited for what 2026 has to offer.
Happy trading everyone!
All programs at thedorianway.thinkific.com
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