The Ravens made safety Matt Elam a first-round pick last year, a choice that brings a contract worth millions of dollars over the next four or five years and a high likelihood of future millions beyond that.
That hasn’t stopped Elam from thinking about life beyond football, however. Elam has designs on opening a sports merchandise store later in life and he’s doing some research about what he needs to know to make that happen this offseason by working as a part-time sales associate at a Finish Line outfit at a mall in Gainesville, Florida.
“Everybody was surprised when I started. They were like, ‘Why? You got enough money.’ But it’s not about the money. It’s just me building,” Elam said, via the team’s website. “I went to the store and I just talked to them and told them what my plan was. They were happy to hire me and they hired me two or three days later.”
Elam, who played his college ball in town at the University of Florida, said he’s run into plenty of fans since starting work but hasn’t taken advantage of the employee discount offered to those who work in the store. He also said he’s been learning a lot about the retail game, although it should be a few years before he needs to put what he’s learned into action as anything but a sideline to his football career.