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

[Split the Sticks]

4 hours ago, Malfatron said:

Rae Carruth

bingo

[Split the Sticks]

3 hours ago, ET80 said:

Aaron Hernandez was better, and a bigger inclusion on this list.

excellent choice

[Split the Sticks]

2 hours ago, Hunter2_1 said:

Rice? Probably would have gone on to have several more good seasons

ditto for Randy Moss

[Split the Sticks]

And Colin Kaepernick deserves some kind of honorable mention here

[goldfishwars]

44 minutes ago, otg said:

Dishonorable mention, Greg Hardy.

Man, that's good one. Was given so many chances. 

[m haynes]

42 minutes ago, ET80 said:

He's playing to a specific demographic. If you're not the type to chug White Claw by the case, then you're not part of the demographic.

I get that, but that a short time audience.  Next week there off finding a new flavor. 

 

He should be used in commercials that can extend him before he screws up and does something stupid, a control environment.

ex  Let say Coke. Do series on his spikes, than muscles, family, girlfriend. Soak it for as long as you can.   His New Year stunt will kill him fast. Once funny, twice you kidding! He's 30 years old kids will write him off fast.

Edited January 6, 2020 by m haynes

[ramssuperbowl99]

11 minutes ago, m haynes said:

I get that, but that a short time audience.  Next week there off finding a new flavor. 

 

He should be used in commercials that can extend him before he screws up and does something stupid, a control environment.

ex  Let say Coke. Do series on his spikes, than muscles, family, girlfriend. Soak it for as long as you can.   His New Year stunt will kill him fast. Once funny, twice you kidding! He's 30 years old kids will write him off fast.

Gronk is gonna be fine whether or not the endorsement gig has any staying power:

https://www.businessinsider.com/nfl-patriots-money-saving-tips-rob-gronkowski-2019-2

Quote

Gronkowski made the surprising revelations about his spending in his 2015 book, "It's Good to Be Gronk."

"To this day, I still haven't touched one dime of my signing bonus or NFL contract money," he wrote. "I live off my marketing money and haven't blown it on any big-money expensive cars, expensive jewelry or tattoos and still wear my favorite pair of jeans from high school."

He's had $50+MM earning interest this entire time. He probably made more money this year than in any year of his life, even accounting for expenses and not playing football.

 

Gronk and Marshawn Lynch get a lot of flack for being over the top personalities, but they did it right.

[m haynes]

25 minutes ago, Split the Sticks said:

And Colin Kaepernick deserves some kind of honorable mention here

I not sure on this one.  He was exposed as a QB, could he play yes. IMO backup. So money is limited. Now he can make money with Nike, public speaking and book writing for years.

 

[Thelonebillsfan]

2 hours ago, sammymvpknight said:

It wasn’t Aaron Hernandez’s fault he had antisocial personality disorder and was raised in an environment of crime. He had mental illness...so it’s not his fault

You do realize that acknowledging systemic factors and the power and impact they have is not dismissing someone's individual culpability in something. Yes? Hernandez absolutely was dealt a raw hand and it led him down a dark path, but he could have gotten off.

Josh Gordon and Aaron Hernandez are absolutely nothing alike, people were feeding Josh Gordon drugs when he was 13 years old.

[Thelonebillsfan]

8 minutes ago, ramssuperbowl99 said:

Gronk is gonna be fine whether or not the endorsement gig has any staying power:

https://www.businessinsider.com/nfl-patriots-money-saving-tips-rob-gronkowski-2019-2

He's had $50+MM earning interest this entire time. He probably made more money this year than in any year of his life, even accounting for expenses and not playing football.

 

Gronk and Marshawn Lynch get a lot of flack for being over the top personalities, but they did it right.

People just assume big, brash and a little meatheady means they're stupid. Gronk's a smart dude, played into his manufactured persona of a party animal perfectly and made a crapload of money.

[ramssuperbowl99]

5 hours ago, ET80 said:

6 hours 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.

The biggest single factor for this is how the players invested the money they did make. Not just lost income directly from their job or endorsement deals. 

So the real answer is we don't know. Peyton Manning made a metric crap ton of money, but if his spending was crazy or he invested in a bunch of stupid stuff, he theoretically could have lost a good deal more than anybody. Same with any of the guys who have had monster contract after monster contract. If they were making $25MM/year, and spending $15MM of it, they might not be broke yet but cost themselves more than the Ryan Leaf (though he shouldn't qualify IMO), Gronkowski types.

 

If the answer is limited exclusively to football revenue, then I think you should look at the percentage of earnings instead of the raw numbers, and I'd nominate Chris Borland.

[Art_Vandalay]

Obviously these people aren't atop the leaderboard, but I feel like any good player that took less to sign with the Pats should be included in this conversation.

[49erurtaza]

1 hour ago, m haynes said:

IMO Tom Brady.

Contracts and outside money. He never exploited his Name. He should of went the Manning route put his name on everything.  Gronk is doing it however the people guiding him are idiots. He's a clown and they should keep him off of live TV. Gronks  act will grow old quick if it hasn't all ready. Who idea was to expose him on new years eve!!!

PS This is not a knock on Manning. Max your dollars until you can't. MJ did it right.

Yes but I expect Brady to make millions for the rest of his life off of his name. 

[m haynes]

3 minutes ago, ramssuperbowl99 said:

Gronk is gonna be fine whether or not the endorsement gig has any staying power:

https://www.businessinsider.com/nfl-patriots-money-saving-tips-rob-gronkowski-2019-2

He's had $50+MM earning interest this entire time. He probably made more money this year than in any year of his life, even accounting for expenses and not playing football.

 

Gronk and Marshawn Lynch get a lot of flack for being over the top personalities, but they did it right.

I agree with you.  But what I am saying is money he leaves on the table. No question he's set but you want to keep the money rolling in for year to come.  The topic of this thread. That's why I brought up Tom Brady.  Leaving Bradys wife out of this who made more money Manning or Brady.  Manning 400 mil Brady 180 mil

https://www.sportingnews.com/ca/nfl/news/tom-brady-net-worth-2019-salary-contract-gisele-patriots/1llo3tzi75i221jzpug3baiux3

https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&q=manning+money+made+from+football

[ramssuperbowl99]

1 minute ago, Thelonebillsfan said:

People just assume big, brash and a little meatheady means they're stupid. Gronk's a smart dude, played into his manufactured persona of a party animal perfectly and made a crapload of money.

When he refers to "expensive tattoos", that tells you all you need to know. Most people with $50MM would refer to every tattoo as cheap.

Gronk managed his money well and doesn't drop thousands of dollars on overpriced stuff.