You’ve likely heard of Chad Ochocinco’s recent foray into playing soccer. Ochocinco, the eccentric Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver, tried out for Kansas City’s own Sporting KC Major League Soccer team last week and earned a spot as an honorary member of the team. Now he can train with the team’s reserve squad as long as he pleases.

Ochocinco’s temporary sport switch has surprised many observers, but it shouldn’t. What’s really surprising is that he’s the only one truly taking advantage of the NFL lockout. With professional football players technically out of work, there should be a slew of athletes taking advantage of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to explore new hobbies or even careers. Why are they sitting back and twiddling their thumbs while contract negations continue in vain when there’s a whole world of opportunity awaiting them outside of football?

It doesn’t just have to be other sports, though. Michael Vick did plenty to improve his tarnished image with great on-field performances last season, but you know what could win over the public even more?

A dog-walking business.

Everyone loves the neighborhood dog-walker. But it doesn’t just have to be any dog — he could specialize in taking competitive greyhounds out for afternoon sprints at the local track. As long as he doesn’t start betting on which ones will kill each other again, he should be as popular as ever.

Tom Brady probably has enough money to last him a while, but that doesn’t mean he couldn’t try some modeling for a while. He’s certainly got a convenient link to the industry with his wife, supermodel Gisele Bündchen. And those flowing locks he’s sporting now (which, apparently, have recently been styled into a pony tail) deserve to be on the cover of more magazines than just Sports Illustrated — let’s be honest. He wouldn’t even be the first NFL quarterback to try out modeling, as Joe Namath was featured in a 1973 ad for pantyhose.

Ryan Fitzpatrick probably couldn’t have a modeling career, but he could likely do almost anything else. Fitzpatrick is a Harvard alumnus who reportedly performed better than any current player on the NFL draft’s IQ test, the Wonderlic, with a score of 49 out of 50 (as opposed to Michael Vick’s score of 20). He could not only be a very successful chemist, physicist, or something else for smart people, but he’d also probably have the biggest biceps in his field.

And what about Bart Scott? You know, the New York Jets linebacker known for his crazy-eyed postgame interview in which he declared he “Can’t wait!” to face the Pittsburgh Steelers. Since the interview went viral, Scott actually trademarked the phrase. But that should only be the beginning – Scott should ride this phrase for all it’s worth. He could become a professional motivational speaker, write the “Can’t Wait!” book, and inspire countless millions who are wasting their lives by believing that they can wait. Who knows – Oprah still needs a replacement, so maybe Scott could even fill those shoes.

— Edited by Corey Thibodeaux