Some NFL players own Jimmy John’s outlets to help generate non-football income, but one player is working at one part-time in the offseason after his rookie year.
Running back Terrance Ganaway played three games in St. Louis last season after the Jets waived the sixth-round pick at the end of the preseason. The Baylor alum was looking for a way to “stay fit, stay out of trouble, and really just try to save money and not spend a lot of money” in Waco during the break before offseason activites start up for the Rams and sent out a tweet to that effect. A Jimmy John’s employee replied they were hiring and now Ganaway, who made $380,000 as a rookie, is working 12 hours a week making sandwiches when he isn’t working out on his own.
“My No. 1 job is being an NFL player,” Ganaway said, via Jim Thomas of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “So don’t get it confused as to me working at Jimmy John’s has me lazy. ... I know what I have to do. I know how to get in shape and I know what it takes to perform at a high level. Really, Jimmy John’s is just to keep me out of trouble in all the down time we have in the offseason.”
Lazy wasn’t the first word that came to mind. It’s pretty remarkable, actually, to hear of an NFL player of any stature doing something like this and speaks pretty highly of his work ethic. Most guys would be partying in Italian night clubs, not making sandwiches named Italian Night Clubs.
We’re aware Darin linked to this story in Thursday’s one-liners, but thought it was deserving of a little more light. Given the slew of stories we hear about athletes mismanaging their time and/or money off the field, it’s nice to hear about one who is taking a very different approach.