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“We Sold $200M Worth of…”: Jordan Palmer Tells Ndamukong Suh How He Created a Business Empire from Silicone Wedding Rings

Triston Drew Cook
Published

Chicago Bears quarterback Jordan Palmer (2) throws a pass during the second half of a preseason game against the Jacksonville Jaguars at Soldier Field. Chicago won 20-19.

Contrary to popular belief, not every professional athlete is capable of accumulating generational wealth as a player, especially in the world of gridiron football. The average length of an NFL career is just 3.3 years, and the average salary is a little less than $3 million, meaning that most players will have to plan accordingly for their life after football. 

Thankfully, for both him and his family, Jordan Palmer was able to find that alternative route by starting his own business. In fact, you may actually be familiar with his product. 

The former quarterback of the Cincinnati Bengals sat down for a conversation with the recently retired pass rusher, Ndamukong Suh, to discuss what success looks like as regular civilians, and that’s where he revealed his million-dollar idea.

My high school buddies and I created that category,” he explained. “We started Qalo.”

From there, the snowball effect took over, and it’s been nothing but smooth sailing ever since. 

We didn’t raise any money. We all threw a couple of grand in the middle. We sold almost $200 million worth of rings, and then we sold the business to a private equity firm. And in that process, I invested, and we launched a digital marketing agency called Common Thread Collective. We used Qalo as our first client to pay for our service, and then we got another client and we hired another person… And we scaled that to like… 110 employees.”

Nowadays, Palmer sees himself heralded as a ‘QB guru’ who helps to train and coach some of the most prominent passers in the league today. Although it’s a lot easier to focus on coaching once you’ve finally managed to reach financial stability. 

Assessing Jordan Palmer’s Personal Net Worth

Palmer was originally drafted by Washington with the 205th overall pick in the 2007 NFL Draft, and even though he would only participate in a total of just five games, he still managed to collect a grand total of $2,260,353 in NFL contracts.

He may not have seen much playing time, but he still managed to make a bit of history for himself by joining his brother and fellow Cincinnati Bengal quarterback, Carson Palmer, in becoming the first brotherly duo in NFL history to play for the same team.

Thanks to his aforementioned business ventures, which include his coaching services at the EXOS NFL Draft training center, he now carries with him a personal valuation of $2 million. Suffice to say, he’s done more than well for himself, and he managed to do so by providing an affordable yet sentimental product for couples all throughout the nation. 

About the author

Triston Drew Cook

Triston Drew Cook

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Triston Drew Cook is the NFL Journalist at The SportsRush. With a bachelor's degree in professional writing, Drew has been covering the NFL and everything that comes with it for over three years now. A journalist who's provided work for Sports Illustrated and GiveMeSport, Drew predominantly focuses his reporting on the world of football

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