The Power of Three

To most people, the number three is meaningless and merely comes between two and four. To former NFL and Stanford wide receiver and tight end, Devon Cajuste, it carries a whole lot more. Many things in his life seem to have come in triplicate. Since entering the NFL in 2016 he been around for three seasons and has been signed by three different organizations: the 49ers, the Packers and the Browns.

On his journey he has endured tumultuous highs and lows and has realized that professional football might not be the quest he was meant to take. “I am going to leave the game of ball. My heart is just not in it anymore” Cajuste says, explaining that he has chosen to walk away from the game on his own terms. Now he is focused on three new paths that have nothing to do with the NFL; Cajuste has started his own business, has begun training athletes and has moved to L.A. to launch his acting career.

It was with his second team, the Green Bay Packers, when Cajuste seemed to hit an all-time low. He was struggling to get the hang of the size and speed of the NFL. Desperately searching for a way to improve his mindset, three concurrent events changed his outlook on life.

New Discovery

“It led to a new discovery” Cajuste begins as he fills me in on how this change was initiated. First, he began studying prayer and meditation, which he hoped would help him become more spiritual and open-minded. Second, he read and digested the book The Energy Bus by John Gordon, which taught him to have a positive outlook on everything, while eliminating toxic factors. Last, but certainly not least, he embraced the powers of crystals. Although he is now one of the most outspoken public figures on the power and energy of crystals, he was at first a bit hesitant when his mother offered him the stones. “I am a scientist,” Cajuste claims wholeheartedly, “the second I picked one up I felt an overwhelming change in emotion.” He has now recently opened his own brand, Amplify Yourself, and is working towards evolving and modernizing the crystal world.

It is clear his work ethic separates him from the average Joe and this was no secret while at Stanford. Where some collegiate athletes struggle to balance their time, Cajuste embraced the grueling schedule. In fact, he was a Science, Technology, and Society major at Stanford and also worked in the Stem Cell Research Laboratory.

“He had a little Cajuste in him” coaches at Stanford would say describing the hardest workers on the team, including the once Heisman hopeful Christian McCaffrey. Cajuste goes on to explain how much of an honor it was to have such stars attributed with his name as a sign of hard work. Cajuste looked up to other hard-working teammates such as Christian McCaffrey, despite being 2 years older. “He is the epitome of what you want your child to be. The way he carries himself I wish I had a little McCaffrey in me” Cajuste explains with high integrity. McCaffrey’s “Cajuste like” work ethic certainly plays an enormous role in the type of player he has become, and he has clearly toned out the negative non-believers that doubted what he could become – almost as if he too had read Gordon’s book.  

Although Cajuste is moving on from football, there are certain abilities that he will take with him in his newly launched career. In his last preseason with the Cleveland Brown’s he was given the opportunity to star on HBO’s Hard Knocks, a widely regarded sports reality show that follows an NFL franchise through August. This gave him the platform that has opened several doors in Hollywood.

Along with personal training and crystals, acting completes this triumvirate of his newly launched career path. In a day and age where people antagonize professional athletes for leaving behind the chance at millions of dollars, Cajuste embodies the opposite of this mindset. “I am a big advocate of don’t let something else put you down” he summarizes. Cajuste doesn’t judge or hold others to expectations. He doesn’t quit, rather he endures.

Devon Cajuste truthfully embodies genuine positivity throughout everything his does, trying in any way to making the world a better place. From the first five minutes of talking to him, I could already tell that his journey was genuinely authentic. He did not leave the NFL dream because he felt beaten down, rather because he felt that his skills could be applied to make an immediate impact elsewhere. On Hard Knocks, when he was cut by former Browns coach, Hue Jackson, he simply smiled and vehemently thanked the staff for allowing him the opportunity to compete. His work ethic combined with his always positive attitude has gotten him to where he is today and will be the tools that will help him reach where he wants to go in the future.

Meditation, mindset and crystals seem an unlikely recipe for success for a 26-year-old world class athlete—especially a football player.  After talking to Cajuste, and watching his journey, his unorthodox road to success isn’t surprising.  His work ethic and fluid thinking seem a winning combination to influence people, beyond the football field, so that the world is a more positive place. 

Harris is a recent graduate of Birmingham-Southern College. He now works in Birmingham as well as coaches lacrosse for Mountain Brook High School. He loves following SEC football, covering fantasy football, the NFL Draft, and is also a lifelong Carolina Panthers fan.