By now, tales of former NFL stars losing millions of dollars hardly surprise us.
Many of the stories about these guys burning through cash to the point of bankruptcy are
downright sad.
They're also cautionary tales.
Here are some former NFL stars who are surprisingly poor.
Former Texas Longhorns quarterback Vince Young was selected for induction into the College
Football Hall of Fame in January 2019.
He was drafted by the Tennessee Titans with the third pick of the 2006 NFL Draft, and
he won Rookie of the Year honors and then Comeback Player of the Year for the 2009 season.
He earned over $35 million from his NFL contracts, as well as a much lesser amount during a short
stint in the Canadian Football League.
In June 2017, Greg Bishop of Sports Illustrated spoke with Young about the quarterback's financial
issues.
Bishop made note of Young's, quote, "unchecked generosity," and Young noted that he never
closely examined his own finances, instead trusting a financial advisor and an uncle
whom he appointed as his manager.
"People out there are just- this is ruthless, man."
In court documents from January 2014, Young's debt was listed as "between $1,001,000 and
$10 million."
Young was attempting to resurrect his career in the CFL when Bishop's story went public,
but the QB never made it up North nor back into the NFL.
In June 2019, Young told Houston's Sports Radio 610 he had completed a stay in a rehab
facility and was four months sober at that time.
Warren Sapp will forever be remembered as one of the greatest defensive tackles in NFL
history.
Named to seven Pro Bowl squads and six All-NFL Teams, Sapp won Defensive Player of the Year
in 1999, and he was part of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers squad that routed the Oakland Raiders
to win Super Bowl 37.
Unsurprisingly, Sapp was voted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2013, his first year
of eligibility.
Following his retirement, he became a fixture on the NFL Network.
Sapp earned over $82 million during his career, but by April 2012, he reportedly had less
than $1,000 in his checking account.
According to the Associated Press, he owed more than $6.7 million to creditors and back
child support and alimony at the time.
His situation became even sadder in February 2015 when he was arrested on charges of soliciting
a prostitute and assault.
The NFL Network terminated his contract, although those charges were dropped later that year.
Terrell Owens represents different things to different people.
Some see him as one of the greatest wide receivers in NFL history who deserved to be voted into
the Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility and who heroically returned from injury to
start for the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl 39.
Others within the football community remember him as the quintessential diva: a me-first
player who became an outcast with three separate franchises and who cared more about his touchdown
celebrations and his brand than about winning a championship.
In October 2017, Owens told the Associated Press he had run through most of the $80 million
he made over the course of his 15-year career, due to bad investments and business deals.
Back in 2012, he told GQ,
"I’m in hell.
I don’t have [...] friends.
I don’t want [...] friends.
That’s how I feel."
Perhaps that's why the eccentric wideout continues to appear in public in a variety of ways,
whether on MTV reality shows, video-game covers, or his own Hall of Fame ceremony.
He also joked about returning to the NFL for the 2019 season.
Or at least we assume he was joking.
You never know with Owens.
"To me, I wouldn't say I'm broke, you know, maybe in a financial bind.
But to say that I'm broke, I think that's a stretch."
William Perry, affectionately known as "The Refrigerator" or "Fridge" thanks to his imposing
size and alarming athleticism, was arguably the most popular player on the all-time great
Chicago Bears defense that helped the club win Super Bowl 20 in 1986.
Perry was also occasionally used as a fullback in short-yardage situations, which only increased
his commercial appeal.
He even tallied a rushing score in that championship win.
While he struggled with his weight throughout his career, he managed to play for nearly
a decade from 1985 through 1994.
Perry's downfall has been almost as well-documented as his on-the-field achievements.
In 2011, ESPN wrote about his struggles with health issues such as alcoholism and diabetes.
In 2015, Perry's brother, Michael Dean Perry, told Fox 32 Chicago that the former NFL star
was living off a monthly social security disability check and some disability money from the NFL.
And in June 2016, Sports Illustrated reported that Perry was at least 150 pounds overweight
and that his earnings were, quote, "long gone."
Mark Brunell was the first great quarterback to ever play for the Jacksonville Jaguars.
The team traded for Brunell's rights ahead of the 1995 regular season, and he started
in 117 games for them through their 2003 campaign.
He led the NFL in passing yards in 1996 and guided the Jaguars to the AFC Championship
Game twice.
The Washington Redskins traded for Brunell in 2004, and then he won a Super Bowl ring
as a backup with the New Orleans Saints in 2010.
He eventually made his way to the New York Jets for a couple of seasons before announcing
his retirement in 2012.
Afterwards, he became an assistant coach at a prep school.
Brunell's finances came underneath the microscope in June 2010 when he filed for bankruptcy.
It was a series of poor real estate investments that sunk him.
He listed $24.7 million in liabilities when he filed.
His involvement with Whataburger franchises in the Jacksonville area also contributed
to his money problems.
Outside of his financial troubles, Brunell works with the Game Plan for Life organization,
he's a head coach at The Episcopal School of Jacksonville, and he works as an analyst
for News 4 Jax.
Few former NFL players can adequately compare to the highest of highs and lowest of lows
that wide receiver Andre "Bad Moon" Rison has gone through.
Rison made the Pro Bowl every season from 1990 through 1993 and again in 1997, and he
was with the Green Bay Packers when that storied franchise defeated the New England Patriots
in Super Bowl 31.
He also famously lost a home in a fire started by his then-girlfriend, Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes
of the R&B girl group TLC.
We would later learn that that wasn't his only asset that would eventually go up in
flames.
Rison filed for bankruptcy in 2007 because of overdue child support bills.
He had gone through the $17 million he earned with the Cleveland Browns, and that doesn't
account for other NFL contracts he signed during his 12 years in the league or the money
he made with the CFL's Toronto Argonauts.
In the ESPN 30 for 30 documentary Broke, Rison claimed to have spent at least $1 million
on jewelry and that he had lost back-to-back houses at some point in his career.
Running back Deuce McAllister earned back-to-back trips to the Pro Bowl in 2002 and 2003.
Two years later, the New Orleans Saints rewarded him with a new contract.
It was one of the most lucrative deals ever signed by a running back at the time.
McAllister remained with the Saints until the end of the 2008 season, when he became
a salary-cap casualty.
However, the team gave him a championship ring even though he wasn't an active member
of the Super Bowl 44 roster, and he's in the Saints Hall of Fame.
McAllister wasn't as good at selling cars as he was on the field, though.
In 2009, Nissan sued the former back's car dealership and claimed he owed the company
$7 million.
His dealership company also filed for bankruptcy that same year.
In August 2011, The Times-Picayune reported a home once owned by McAllister was auctioned
off for nearly $900,000.
Nissan again sued him in January 2013, after claiming he hadn't paid on a judgment stemming
from the previous case.
In 2018, he began working as an analyst for the New Orleans Fox affiliate WVUE.
After two successful seasons with the Denver Broncos, running back Clinton Portis found
himself traded to the Washington Redskins in 2004.
Part of that transaction involved Portis putting pen to paper on a contract that included $17
million in bonuses and that could have been worth more than $50 million in total earnings.
That deal made him the highest-paid back in NFL history at the time.
He spent seven seasons with the Redskins and retired in August 2012.
In June 2017, Sports Illustrated reported on Portis' post-playing hardships.
He had entrusted millions of dollars to financial advisors for projects such as a casino that
was shut down in 2012.
He reportedly had only $150 in his bank account and was hundreds of thousands of dollars in
debt when he declared bankruptcy in 2015.
Portis went so far as to admit to SI that he considered murder as a form of revenge
against those who wronged him.
Fortunately, though, he never took that leap.
Unlike many of the other players on this list, quarterback Charlie Batch never played in
a Pro Bowl or was widely considered one of the top starters at his position.
While he won a pair of Super Bowl rings with the Pittsburgh Steelers, he did so as a backup.
Nevertheless, he had a fairly long career, playing in the NFL from 1998 through 2012.
Theoretically, his finances should've been in order before he took a knee on his career.
He earned a $13 million signing bonus with the Detroit Lions in 2000, and it's estimated
that he made well over $20 million in the rest of his playing days.
Batch was still on Pittsburgh's roster behind starter Ben Roethlisberger on the depth chart
when he filed for bankruptcy in 2011.
Court documents showed that Batch was $6 million in the hole when he filed.
Fortunately, though, in contrast to other stories of pro athletes who go broke, this
one has a somewhat happy ending.
The court discharged many of Batch's debts in June 2011, which allowed him to keep his
Super Bowl rings, among other assets.
Currently, he makes appearances on CBS Sports Radio.
The Buffalo Bills selected running back Travis Henry in the second round of the 2001 NFL
Draft, and he looked like an absolute steal by the end of his second season in the league.
He rushed for 1,438 yards and 13 rushing touchdowns in 2002, which earned him a Pro Bowl berth,
and he followed that by tallying 10 rushing TDs and over 1,300 yards on the ground the
next season.
Alas, injuries ultimately ended his time with the Bills, and multiple drug-test failures
kept him off the field after 2007.
The league reinstated him in 2012, but he never played again.
In 2009, Henry told the New York Times that he was broke after fathering nine children
with nine women.
Those financial burdens resulted in him allegedly turning to a life of crime, and he was sentenced
to three years in prison for his role in financing a drug trafficking operation.
By the time he was released and reinstated by the league, he had 11 children with 10
women.
No wonder he tried to make a comeback even though he was 33 years old at the time.
If you're not a Cleveland Browns fan, you may not realize that quarterback Bernie Kosar
remains a beloved legend in the area even though he last played for the franchise in
1992 and never won a title.
He earned a pair of Pro Bowl nods during his career, and he guided the Browns to three
AFC Championship contests, which the Browns lost each time.
After coach Bill Belichick controversially released Kosar in 1992, the QB caught on with
the Dallas Cowboys, where as a backup to Troy Aikmanhe won the ring that eluded him when
he called northeast Ohio home.
Kosar has openly spoken about how much money he lost post-retirement and also about the
symptoms he's suffered due to the concussions he sustained as a pro.
When he filed for bankruptcy in 2009, he had only $44 in his checking account.
None of his off-the-field woes have affected his popularity in the Cleveland area, though.
His name is attached to a restaurant in the area, and he's also a fixture on local sports
talk radio programs during the football season.
"And the camaraderie of family is just so phenomenal.
It's phenomenal."
Check out one of our newest videos right here!
Plus, even more Grunge videos about your favorite stuff are coming soon.
Subscribe to our YouTube channel and hit the bell so you don't miss a single one.