I agree, but in comparison with baseball and basketball; it is actually pretty tame. When a shortstop batting .218 can make 10 mil a year, something is very, very wrong and that is one of my many reasons why I do not follow baseball anymore, I do not watch baseball, I do not read about baseball, I absolutely could never be dragged to a game; I do not care at all about any team, even local ones.
Let's imagine Leon practices hard today, and, Crom forbid, gets his knee folded backwards and is never able to play the game of football again. He has played football his entire life, and has never had any other real work experience. That 535k isn't going to go too far for him. These guys play a short time for a large amount of money and they need to use it as a nest egg. Some of them are just so stupid that they forget that fact and go out to buy million dollar earrings.
Its all relative. I look at those numbers and think why even get out of bed... Seriously though. NFL players are not ovepaid at all. The average career length for a player is 4 years. Then they have basically no marketable skills to continue making money. Think of all the time and effort they have invested in making that money. Leon is what 26? His life has been all about football for at least a decade. Think of all the training that has gone into this. All the risk of injury he has had? I can't really think of another field where you have 10 years of intense training with little to no pay. Then the top earners in that field only make a couple million a year for 4 years. And if you fail you basically get nothing. Leon has babies to worry about. He needs to make some moneys. Let the man get paid! What if he doesn't get a new contract, then get injured this year due to Rex running him every other down like some people on this board would like. That man need to lock in some $$$. The jets should do the right thing here TJ on the other hand is just trying to milk out a little more. He got his payday. I can't imagine that guy really gets too upset about the 900K. He just wants to maximize his moneys. If we don't pay the little guy, then we will have a situation in the new stadium where all the fans in the lower section make more money a year than Leon! I'm assuming that anyone who can afford a $25K PSL, $400 a game seats makes more than $500k. Absurd.
My wife works with a guy who played NFL ball for some time. He's in his early 50's now and was in the league for about 8 seasons. No super bowl rings, I don't even know if he's been in playoff game. We were just speaking about him yesterday actually when my wife informed me of his pension- $8,000 a month for life- spousal option brings it down a few notches. Not too shabby. This is for a guy who played at a point where players really weren't earning very much, but were still making a good living.
So that's like what 150k a year? As a pension? I'll take that any day of the week, considering he only had the job for less than 10 years. I wonder what LIRR guys and cops get. Probably less than half for double the time vested.
What's more- he's got 25 years invested with my wife's company, plus a 401 K, plus social security, plus he's being offered a buyout to speed along his retirement. The proverbial pig in shit.
^Yep. Brother in law played 12 seasons as a starter in the league. He's got permanent back and neck problems and not much of a pension as a result. They've done pretty well because of the way they've invested the money, but the numbers can be deceiving. Don't forget that they don't take home that whole paycheck, either. Even before taxes cut into it, there are the various amounts paid out to agents, etc. That 8k a month seems higher than the real number, BTW. EDIT: Nevermind on the last point. I just noticed you said he was in his 50s.
So basically all this guy has to do for the rest of his life is avoid being run over by a fucking bus or something. Even with IR's input on agent payout and shit like that, I would say it's safe to assume he's getting 5k a month. I guess depending on your lifestyle that could be do-able or not. Can't imagine living in Muttontown or anything like that, but I'm sure he could pull off some part of Massapequa haha
No, there's no agent payout on the pension. I mentioned the 50s thing because most former players aren't eligible for their full benefits until they hit 55. I can't remember which. My brother in law only receives a small amount right now because of the physical damages. He's got another 12 years until he gets his full pension. Most of the NFL players who end up with financial problems do so before they reach that age. It's a huge problem if you've got a guy who doesn't invest well and didn't bother to finish his degree. Sad, but they have no one to blame but themselves when it happens.
Don't be too hard on them. I so wish I had saved less and spent more when I was in my 20s. As it stands now in my 30s I don't really have any need for more money; my wife would just spend it on some stupid crap. In my 20s, man I could have done some damage with $500K-900K a year. Well ok, maybe I could use some more money to buy some PSLs. Never thought about them getting a pension. Good info.
I get the relativity part. It was just a simple remark coming from a simple and ordinary person's point of view. As in, I lead a simple life, and that sort of money boggles my mind as a generality. Nothing else to it beyond that. Guys like Jim Otto (Raiders hate, but I'll let it slip), Mike Webster, and Larry Grantham got thrown out with the trash, so is Vernon Gholston REALLY a bust? Hell, no. Take the dough and roll.
You make a fair point, the money is boggling. We can talk all the trash we want about Vernon, but if he plays his cards right, at what 22 years old? He is set for life already. I think about such things when I look at my little piece of property, and think about the racer who has his own western TOWN in his back yard. And I mean a full running town with a hotel, bar, jail, etc. I don't know what that is like.
