With every million-dollar contract and luxury lifestyle, the harsh reality of life in the NFL lurks all too ominously. Most players, despite making unimaginable money, see their wealth disappear just as quickly.
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Studies suggest that nearly 78% of NFL players face financial trouble within a few years of retirement. While a whopping 70% fall into debt, with 10% even ending up filing for bankruptcy. One of the reasons for these shocking numbers is the fact that an average NFL career lasts only 3.3 years.
That’s hardly enough time for most players to build lasting wealth before the paychecks stop. And in many cases, even when the money runs out, the lifestyle doesn’t. So, honest conversations like the one between former Bears running back Matt Forte and Ndamukong Suh on The No Free Lunch Show are important.
In the latest episode of the show, the duo peeled back the curtain on what happens when young athletes suddenly come into life-changing money and how easy it is to make mistakes. Forte laid out his own mistakes vividly, recalling the rush of signing his first NFL contract as a second-round pick in 2008, and realizing how much money had just hit his account.
“Getting into the NFL and you get your signing bonus — I’m a second-round guy. To me, that’s more money than my family has ever seen, ever,” Forte said. But instead of splurging right away, the 2x Pro Bowler tried to stay grounded.
“I bought my dad a nice watch. And my mom — because she worked at JCPenney’s in the jewelry department and knew her stuff — I got her a piece of jewelry she’d been eyeing forever,” he revealed.
Those were Forte’s only big purchases at first. But like most rookies, temptation eventually caught up to him. “I did the dumb rookie thing. Once you finish that first season, you think you’re gonna play forever. I went out and bought this Breitling watch with aftermarket diamonds all over it. And then later, I was like, yeah, that was dumb,” Forte admitted.
Listening patiently, Ndamukong Suh, in his usual self, didn’t hesitate to call it what it was. “Half that value went away as soon as you bought it,” he pointed out. “Exactly,” Forte replied with a laugh.
As the clip gained traction on Instagram, it seemed to have struck a chord with plenty of men who’ve made similar mistakes. Among them was ex-Bengals defensive end Devon Still, who jumped into the comments section with his own confession.
“I bought $100K worth of jewelry before I even got drafted. Went home that night, stared at the jewelry, and said, ‘I’m tripping.’ Took it back the next morning,” Still wrote.
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That one line, “I’m tripping,” perfectly captures a truth most players learn the hard way. The sudden wealth, the pressure to look successful, and the illusion that the money will never stop can be intoxicating. But as Forte, Suh, and Still’s words show, it doesn’t take long for the shine to fade and reality to set in.
And that’s the whole point of Suh’s No Free Lunch Show. It’s about sharing lessons. In the NFL and the NIL era, where careers end faster than they begin, financial wisdom is the most valuable play any athlete can make.
A sign of progress is the growing number of financial literacy classes in colleges today. After all, what’s the point of dedicating half your life to one of the most brutal sports in the world if you can’t secure a stable future?
