Many NFL rookies make more money in the year they’re drafted -- at age 21 or 22 -- than they make in any other year for the rest of their lives. And many NFL rookies spend the money they make that year as if they can count on making that much money every year for the rest of their lives.
Breaking that pattern is a big part of the rookie symposium that the NFLPA* is hosting in Florida today.
Karl McDonnell, the chief operating officer of Strayer University, told Alex Marvez and Jim Miller on Sirius XM NFL Radio that rookies will be told to “take a year off from making any big financial decisions.”
For rookies, McDonnell said the best thing to do is tell everyone who asks you for money to come back in a year.
“These players have a tendency to get approached by a lot of people, family and friends,” McDonnell said. “We’ve actually drafted a letter they can use that says, ‘I’m going to take the next year getting used to being in the NFL. I’m not going to make any major commitments,’ just to give them a little breathing room.”
It’s a good idea, even if it’s easy to be skeptical about whether many rookies will follow it. As Jared Allen has noted, not only do many rookies fail to wait a year before they start spending, some don’t even wait until they’re drafted.