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Which NFL athlete has cost themselves the most money over their career for reasons they could control?


Kiwibrown

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My first nomination is Josh Gordon, missing multiple games and seasons due to drug use. 

 

He has earned 7.4 million from 2012-2019. 

He had a recorded setting year in 2013,  after a promising 2012, his rookie year. 

From 2011-2019 Julio Jones, a better but similarly talented reciever has made 101 million with more to come. A 90 million 

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With those numbers, Gordon.

I'd say AB lost himself a pretty good chunk. Vick was a good one. 

There's always the guys who are wildcards (might've been good if they were consistently on the field instead of suspended) like Shane Ray, Randy Gregory, Manziel, etc.

Ray Rice comes to mind as someone in the arguable prime of his career who missed out on what would've been a big chunk of change and frankly, just got lucky on timing because a season or so less, he wouldn't have made anything memorable for the career he was having.

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26 minutes ago, sledgehammer said:

Maybe Ryan Leaf or Michael Vick ? 

Right here. He would have set the market at QB (despite being a sub par passer) with a few playoff wins that year he was arrested. He couldn't throw the ball effectively, but he won games with his unbelievable running ability - and while teams were catching up to it, it wasn't to a point to where he'd not earn a 2nd contract. 

The contract money plus the endorsement money (he was the face of Nike football during that timeframe) lost was probably in the eight digits - $50mm lost is probably the low end of that projection.

35 minutes ago, Kiwibrown said:

My first nomination is Josh Gordon, missing multiple games and seasons due to drug use. 

I'll give a nod to this, but I think Terrelle Pryor is the more egregious Browns WR in this discussion. He turned down cash in hand for a one year "prove it" deal in Washington and... That's basically the end of his career. 

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5 hours ago, Totty said:

Which oddly enough is working in construction right now on the job I am on in Pittsburgh.  Creepy.

Oh God I would feel so uncomfortable if I was his coworker.

I'd add Jamarcus Russell to this list. He isn't a thug or anything, just insanely lazy and stupid.

Edited by Elky
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1 minute ago, Elky said:

Oh God I would feel so uncomfortable if I was his coworker.

He goes by a different name now.  He is working kind of away from everyone to be left alone.  He doesn't deny who he is.  After prison, he moved to western PA and family helped him start a new life and blue collar career.  Honestly.. I am a fan of people making things right.  But his son suffers horribly to this day.  I am in between him "paying his debt" and him being a scum bag.  

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Aldon Smith? Dude was a monster, let’s not forget. A Top 10 Pick and the best player on that Niner Defense with Willis. At the time, was the best edge player in the league with Watt. He would of had a record setting second contract. He had 14 sacks his rookie season and 20 sacks the next year when the Niners went to the SB. Then threw it all away the following year. 
 

He easily cost himself 80M not getting that second contract and probably 180+ over the course of a career. His net profits from his rookie contract are less than 15M total. 
 

I don’t see how anyone touches Aldon here. 

Edited by BayRaider
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