Greg Ellis
NFL player, Filmmaker, Football Coach, Mental Health Advocate
Greg Ellis was an All American football player for the National Football League from 1998-2009. He had a distinguished career both on and off the football field.
Gregory Lemont Ellis was born on August 14, 1975 in Wendell, North Carolina. He attended East Wake High School in Wendell. At East Wake he excelled on the football field as a tight end
and a defensive end. He was selected to play in the North Carolina East West Shrine Game. He was honored by the Raleigh News & Observer when they voted him the Male High School
Athlete of the Year in 1993.
After graduation from high school, Greg enrolled at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He played for the Tar Heels from 1994 to 1997. He was “redshirted” his freshman year as
a back-up defensive end. During the 3 years that he played college ball, he received many awards. As a sophomore he was named first-team All-ACC and honorable mention All-American by UPI. He even excelled as a member of the junior varsity basketball team the same year. During his junior year he was named second-team All-American by The Sporting News
and first team All-ACC. As a senior he was named to the first team All-American, was a finalist for the Lombardi Award, and was an All-ACC selection for the third straight year. Ellis
graduated from UNC with a degree in communications.
Greg Ellis was drafted as the 8th pick in the first round of the NFL draft in 1998 by the Dallas Cowboys. From 1998 to 2008 he was a defensive end—half the time as a right end and the
other half as a left end. In 2006 he was moved to outside linebacker. He played this position for 2 years. While at Dallas he totaled 77 quarterback sacks, 377 tackles, 20 forced fumbles, nine fumble recoveries, four interceptions, and two touchdowns. Ellis severely injured his Achilles tendon in 2006, but in the 2007 season he received the honors of being selected to play in the NFC Pro
Bowl and of being awarded the NFL Comeback Player of the Year. In 2009 Dallas released Ellis from his contract.
In 2009 Ellis signed a 3-year contract valued at $10 million with the Oakland Raiders. He returned to the position of defensive end. He started in every game and had a good season; however, Oakland released him from his contract at the end of the year.
In 2020 Ellis returned to football to become head football coach at Texas College, a historically black college in Tyler, Texas. In 2022 he was hired as head football coach at Southwestern
Assemblies of God University at Waxahachie, Texas. Then in 2024 he returned to the Dallas Cowboys as a defensive coordinator, but he was let go in 2025 when a new head coach came in.
In 2025, Ellis was inducted into the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame. This is quite a compliment and goes along with his jersey number 87 being honored at Kenan Stadium. 2025 also saw the Dallas Morning News rank him No. 80 among the top 100-all-time Dallas Cowboys.
Greg Ellis had other endeavors while he was playing football. After he was released from Dallas in 2009, Greg used his communication skills learned at UNC-CH to form Play Now Enterprises.
This is a full-service studio that produces photography, audio, and film. In 2015 he produced his first movie Carter High. This movie was a true story about a high school football team in Dallas, Texas. The team was racked with controversy about the behavior of their football players. There were allegations that the team members were involved in armed robberies and cheating in the classroom. The movie starred Vivica Fox, Charles S. Dutton, and David Banner. The movie showed how a caring coach and an involved community brought about a transformation in the lives of these young men. Hope replaces despair and victory wins over adversary.
Another movement close to his heart is the need for more mental health treatment. He started a non-profit Getting My Help Mental Wellness Foundation. He has also made a movie entitled
My Dear that illustrates the results of undiagnosed and untreated mental illness. Recently there have been showings of the film in Raleigh and Fayetteville. A round table discussion with
mental health professionals was held after the movie to discuss how we can increase awareness and treatment of mental illness.
Greg Ellis had a great career both on-and-off the football field.
June 2025