Congrats on the weight loss, Don. I'm in the same boat myself, though my football experiences were limited to being a third string nose guard on my high school freshman team. Many years ago I used cycling to help lose weight (I went from 264 to 205, but never got any lower) and actually got into non-licensed racing. Unfortunately, time demands, a high-stress job and a love of fattening food have combined to push me off the bike and back toward the upper end of the scales as I've gotten older. I maxed out a year ago at 306, and I just couldn't feature that at nearly 50 years old. Now it's a year later and I'll be 51 in a few weeks, and I've hit my doctor's first prescribed goal of losing 10% of my weight. It's time to redouble my efforts and try to get back into cycling again to help toward that. That's why I joined up here, to get some encouragement (and advice on getting a new hybrid so I don't have to feel like a circus elephant balancing on my old road bikes).
Best of luck and continued weight loss! And if anyone needs 20 year old advice, I'll be happy to pipe up. That's how long it's been since I was a "serious" rider.