schwilly
Member
Gonna play devil's advocate as usual..
These guys have devoted their life to the game. Football has likely been the primary focus of their day since grade school. Sure most get a free college education, but usually it's a communications degree or something easy, not worth much. A select few players get money thrown at them (cam newton, reggie bush, etc) while playing in college, but nothing for most.
I remember seeing a stat that the average nfl career is like less than two seasons. So these guys finally make it, through much hard work and sacrifice, to their payday. Maybe they have a good career and die rich. Maybe they suffer a career ending injury their first game, if they didn't already catch that injury while playing in high school or ncaa. The spectre of injury is always hanging over them. The fact is these guys have a short career, that they have worked very hard to achieve and likely have sacrificed many of the opportunities that would make them hireable for a "normal" job.
So their few years in the nfl is their one shot to build a nest egg for future investments, family, everything.
When people say these guys don't deserve their contracts, or shouldn't make a little on the side, I think they're wrong. These guys earned it. I mean, it's not like we're talking about baseball here..
These guys have devoted their life to the game. Football has likely been the primary focus of their day since grade school. Sure most get a free college education, but usually it's a communications degree or something easy, not worth much. A select few players get money thrown at them (cam newton, reggie bush, etc) while playing in college, but nothing for most.
I remember seeing a stat that the average nfl career is like less than two seasons. So these guys finally make it, through much hard work and sacrifice, to their payday. Maybe they have a good career and die rich. Maybe they suffer a career ending injury their first game, if they didn't already catch that injury while playing in high school or ncaa. The spectre of injury is always hanging over them. The fact is these guys have a short career, that they have worked very hard to achieve and likely have sacrificed many of the opportunities that would make them hireable for a "normal" job.
So their few years in the nfl is their one shot to build a nest egg for future investments, family, everything.
When people say these guys don't deserve their contracts, or shouldn't make a little on the side, I think they're wrong. These guys earned it. I mean, it's not like we're talking about baseball here..