Gilbert Arenas may be a household name in the NBA but he can still surprise fans with unknown facets of his life. Even after his retirement in 2012, Arenas has remained a popular and relevant name — thanks to his podcast ‘Gil’s Arena’. Additionally, his unfiltered opinions on his YouTube channel, No Chill Gil, have also contributed to his media popularity. But while his opinions and sharp takes often make it to media headlines, garnering significant attention, his personal life remains to be explored.

Not many know of Gil’s connection to professional sports beyond basketball. Notably, he has two cousins who have played football at a professional level. One of them is Armando Murillo, who played in the Canadian Football League. However, we are going to have a close look at another cousin of Gilbert Arenas, Javier Arenas, who formerly played for the NFL’s Kansas City Chiefs.

Exploring Gilbert Arenas’ cousin’s early life

Javier Arenas was born on October 28, 1987, in Tampa, Florida, where he attended Robinson High School. He showed early signs of excellence in football since his high school days, subsequently earning himself a reputation as the punt returner and defensive back. By the time Javier was a senior at Robinson, he also set the record for most punt and kick returns for touchdowns. 

As for his athletic abilities, Arenas’ personal best in a 200-meter dash stood at 22.9 seconds. Meanwhile, he had the potential to extend this raw power into the longer 400-meter dash as well, where he clocked a personal best of 51.48 seconds. However, it was not as if it all came naturally to him, but there was a lot of work that he put into himself.

According to a 2009 article by Bleacher Report, the former football coach of Alabama Crimson Tide, Mike Shula, had recollected the time he met Arenas as a high school player. “Javier would hang out at the practice facility to see what it was like to be a professional athlete. He was a gym rat,” he said, as per the article. 

After high school, Arenas committed to Crimson Tide even before he set foot on the campus. “I’ve seen Alabama on television, and their crowd is wild. I love the atmosphere and the stadium. It looks exciting to play in,” he said back then, per Bleacher Report. As a freshman, Arenas had a significant impact on the team. Notably, he finished his freshman season with 18 kick returns for 313 yards, 31 punt returns for 286 yards and also scored two touchdowns.

The Crimson Tide star played 4 seasons with the team, finishing with 154 tackles (104 solo and 50 assisted), 6 interceptions, and 17.5 tackles for loss. Following his 2009 season with the Tide, the Kansas City Chiefs drafted Javier into the NFL. 

A closer into Javier Arenas’ NFL career          

It is worth mentioning that the KC Chiefs had earlier traded Tony Gonzalez to the Atlanta Falcons to acquire the pick they used to pick Arenas in the 2010 NFL Draft. Subsequently, the 2010 BCS national champion signed a $3.798 million contract with the Chiefs for 4 years. 

In his rookie season with the team, he managed 39 punts returned with 322 punts return yardage. Apart from this, he had 24 kickoff returns with 509 yardage for kickoff returns. Notably, Arenas played 3 seasons with the Chiefs in which he played 67 games. He finished with 105 punts returned, 1029 punts return yardage, and the longest punt return of 37 yards. 

After his third season, the Chiefs exchanged Arenas for Anthony Sherman in a trade with the Arizona Cardinals. But with the Cardinals, Javier focused solely on their kickoff return duties for the whole 2012 season. Subsequently, he signed a one-year contract with the Atlanta Falcons but only played 6 games with the team. Following his stint with the Falcons, the former NFL star signed up with multiple franchises. But nothing seemed to work out with any of them, and his NFL career came to an end. His last official NFL appearance was with the Falcons in season 2014.