Roger Staubach, Who Earned $25,000 a Year Playing QB For Cowboys, Is The Richest QB In NFL History and On the Verge Of Being a Billionaire

When talking about the wealthiest quarterbacks ever in the NFL, Rodger Staubach is certainly not the name that pops up in minds. Surprisingly, the Cowboys legend is considered to be the richest QB in NFL history and he is inching closer to his way to break the billion-dollar milestone. What is even more baffling is that he only averaged $25,000 annually as a Dallas QB.

Though $25,000 was a huge salary back in the ’70s, but it was not because of his NFL salary that he became so rich. In fact, it was his business acumen that made him a real estate mogul after his retirement that earned him hundreds of millions of dollars in a span of three decades.

The Incredible Story of Roger Staubach

Staubach was drafted by the Dallas Cowboys in the 1964 NFL Draft, a year before graduating from the Naval Academy, where he dominated as a young QB talent and won the Heisman in 1963. However, he did not play for the Cowboys until 1969, after Staubach fulfilled his four-year military commitment. He served in Vietnam as a Supply Corps officer.

Upon returning he started out strong as a QB1 for the Dallas Cowboys. In his 11-year career with the America’s Team, he won two Super Bowls while being named in six Pro Bowls, an NFL MVP, and many other accolades. Needless to say, his Hall of Fame career was action-packed and eventful. However, Staubach, who at this point was a father of three, calculated the risks of sustaining career-ending injuries which prompted him to take a step beyond the horizons of football.

The star quarterback started working on his commercial real estate company in the offseasons which he named The Staubach Co. Slowly but surely, Staubach scaled his company which started out with just five employees and minimal revenue. By the time the 2008 housing market collapse happened, he had made $640 million by selling his company to JLL, previously called Jones Lang LaSalle, as per Forbes.

Staubach Earned Millions Each Year As Staubach Co. Chairman

The Cowboys legend after selling his successful company stayed as the Chairman, bagging $12 million a year. This is bizarre since in his 11-year career in the NFL, Staubach had never made more than $160,000 a year. But as Franki Hrelja claimed on Instagram, at 81 years old he is “almost a billionaire.”

According to Celebrity Net Worth, Staubach is said to be worth $600 million while other sources claim it to be higher than that. But going from $25,000 a year as a young QB, to a being business tycoon earning millions of dollars, is in itself an incredible story.