While the best Players in the NFL are millionaires Many times, it's not easy for the rest of the league.
The NFL minimum salary for rookies was $795,000 in 2024, representing the smallest payday for any of the league's 1,700 active players who remain signed throughout the year. It seems profitable, but as… Wife of former NFL player Chad Hansen He explained that life in the league isn't always as luxurious as it seems.
In a video posted in December on Tik Tok, Bryce Watts Hansen Debunking the misconception that everyone in the NFL is a millionaire.
Chad, 29, spent five years in the NFL, rotating between the New York Jets, New England Patriots, Tennessee Titans, Denver Broncos, New Orleans Saints, Houston Texans, Detroit Lions and Atlanta Falcons.
“He was on eight different teams in the NFL,” Watts-Hansen said in the video. “This means that eight different contracts were signed and broken.”
She acknowledged that even in the worst case, players still make big money, but it also comes with expenses that many don't consider – including Watts Hansen until she faces the facts of the matter. Having to move constantly.
“I know how to get a flight, move all our stuff. It's like the cost you have to eat.” I continued. “It's like all these little things you could want to play in your head.”
the “NFLThe podcast host added that at one point, she and her husband were paying rent in three different cities due to the unpredictable nature of his job. During the month and a half that the wide receiver was a member of the Falcons, they paid $10,000 to move to Atlanta.
Watts-Hansen also admitted that he previously believed that all players were millionaires, but that is not the reality for those who continually sign and then get cut.
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“It would have been really cool if that were the case, if we were a team and all that stuff,” she explained. “But you know, that's not the reality for everyone.”
“(Chad) signed the contract. “After a few months, you don't get anything, especially if you sign at the beginning of the offseason and then you get fired during the offseason,” she added. “You don't see any of that money because you haven't played over and over again; She didn't go to training.”
Players must also consider the risky nature of their work. The couple had to spend a significant amount on doctors' appointments, just another one of those “odd little things here and there,” Watts-Hansen said.
Even for players with more stable careers, the money is not as great as some might think. The average NFL player only lasts three to four years in the league before being forced to retire without any further professional experience. Even a six- or seven-figure salary in those few years won't last a lifetime.
