Money and "head in the clouds" issues

Can you imagine suddenly getting paid tens of millions of dollars at age 22? For some of us, that was when we graduated college. For others, it was a couple years after high school and a trade school. But wherever you were at age 22, imagine suddenly being a millionaire.

That's the case of very high-round NFL draft picks. If you had just been a star player in college and now suddenly you've got insane amounts of money, you would feel like you've got life by the horns. You've achieved your dreams. Yet, when a highly touted draft pick gets signed for millions, but hasn't played a game yet, he has accomplished exactly nothing yet in the NFL.

I can see how suddenly having that much money and being told how great he is could go to a young guy's head. He might feel invincible, as if his NFL success is somehow predestined. It seems to me that's how a very talented young player could wind up a draft bust.

In reality, he's accomplished nothing in the NFL until he's won some games, and the talent level is way, way higher in the NFL compared to the NCAA. Someone who realizes that will know to get focused off the money and glamor and to start busting butt to learn his team's system, and everything he can to become a high-level NFL player. Raw talent alone can't make someone a great player. No matter how talented a player is, only a huge amount of work will make him an effective player.

When Ryan Leaf was with the Cowboys, I saw some innate skills in him and hoped that he had kind of learned his lessons and could work hard to develop into a great player. Obviously, that did not happen. It makes me wonder what could have been if he had immediately gotten a great mentor to tell him, “Don't buy into all the hype. All that stuff about how great you are is all bull. You have to build up a great work ethic to make it in this league.”

I wonder if a Ryan Leaf, plus a Jerry-Rice-level work ethic would equal a great player.

The league has way more money than it used to, and, of course, top-level draft picks get paid way more up front than they used to. Obviously, there's no way to return to how things were in previous decades, so it does make me wonder what teams may do to avoid “head in the clouds” situations. No matter how great a college career a player has had, he's not guaranteed a good NFL career. And paying him a huge pile of money up front also doesn't guarantee that he'll play well in the NFL.

It makes me wonder if teams have a “get his head out of the clouds” department, or if they use sports psychologists or whatever. I'm not against paying a player what the market will bear. That's just part of the business. It just makes me wonder if teams have to take counter measures to prevent that very money they just paid him from working against him.

 

Professional athletes make way too much money, but I guess it’s what the market will bear. I’m a capitalist, so I always say let the market determine who gets paid. Society is the problem. We place more value on our entertainment than anything else (yes, I’m guilty as well). That’s why athletes, actors, and musicians are among the highest paid people. We should value law enforcement, teachers (the good ones, not the nuts), our military, researchers, medical personnel, etc. the most, but we don’t. That’s why the county is in such bad shape. Our priorities are screwed up.

 

They have numerous resources and most pro sports have orientations for rookies to come in to talk about relationships with women, getting financial advisors and ones that are sponsored by the league they are with so their money doesnt go missing.

At 22 i already had a kid was on child support and was sellin drugs. I was buggin and i was broke. Couldnt imagine havin that much bread at that time of my life.

 

Risky business.

 

Many people are qualified to be law enforcement and teachers, not many people are qualified to be actors or athletes or doctors thus the disparity in pay.

 

Did you know a lot of folks who win the lottery die broke?
Handling money is a skill a lot of people don't have.
Hope these players who don't have this skill are hiring quality professionals to help them out.

 

The nfl has sponsored agents and financial advisors for this. Every league has these type of support systems. They even have nfl sponsored rookie orientations where they cover everything from money to women.

 

Great to hear this, these young folks can use the help!

 

I did read that, yes, that a lot of lottery winners (but not all) go broke. There are whole web pages dedicated to the topic. Some of them just spend and spend, thinking erroneously that the money can never run out. Others just can't say "no" to every friend or relative with their hand out. Finally, some others get swindled. You're right. Every single one of them should have gotten sound financial advice and then proceeded with a smart plan. There was one guy who lost it all, and it wasn't his fault. I forget his name, but a bunch of criminals abducted him and forced him to hand over his account numbers and passwords. Then they impersonated him and stole all the money.

But, yeah, if I had a kid going in to play in the NFL, I would be all over him to get financial advice and make a plan, even if he were getting the league minimum.

 

League minimum is not chump change these days .. think it's like 300K +?

 

They've had these seminars and programs for over a decade now. The average fan should know this.

 

I think rookie minimum is $550k if you make the 53. Vet minimum is like $850k. Its way more than 300

 

But which is more important? That’s the question. Anyone can play basketball, football, and baseball too. No, not anywhere as well as the pros, but we can all still do it. Like I said, our priorities are screwed up. It’s not even in question.

 

Lol what???? These guys are the .01% in the world at their jobs. Everytime i come here i read something that tries to lower my iq.

 

Sweet gig !

 

Your I.Q. probably can’t get any lower than it already is if you don’t get my point. The question is how important is their job. You seem to think the world would stop spinning if there were no professional athletes.

 

Maybe you need to get some people together to agree to pay more taxes to help out your preferred professions. Let me know how that movement goes.

 

This is pure virtue signaling, can we play enough for someone to want to pay to see us play? It's supply and demand, their high level skills are limited but the demand is high

 

As I said, it’s a societal problem. We put our entertainment over the more important issues. It’s just a fact. You can ignore it if you so desire. It’s still a fact.