ShareThisFormer Oklahoma football star Sam Bradford is preparing for his first payday, which promises to be a doozy.
Bradford, the 2008 Heisman Trophy winner and top overall pick in this year's NFL draft, is expected to soon sign a deal with the St. Louis Rams that will pay him in the neighborhood of $50 million in guaranteed money. That's a pretty fancy neighborhood for a guy who was in college until just recently.
While at Oklahoma, Bradford used a debit card for day-to-day expenses and a parent-funded credit card that was only for emergencies.
"To go from how simple it was in college to how complex it is now is a huge change," Bradford said Tuesday. "Financially, my life has kind of changed drastically here in a couple months."
A finance major, Bradford has an understanding of markets, but is still learning how to deal with a millionaire's personal finances.
Bradford has hired a financial adviser and will use the expertise of his father, Kent, a former Sooners football player and insurance industry expert, to deal with expected investment offers. One NFL veteran told Bradford this week that he is pitched a business opportunity of $100,000 or more about once a week.
"I expect those things will come, but I'm very fortunate that my dad is still a major part of my life and he really handles most of this stuff for me," Bradford said. "If anyone comes, they're going to talk to him. He's going to have to see a business proposal. He's going to have to see a lot of things before we'll even consider making an investment."
Bradford was one of a group of NFL draftees who participated this week in financial training, part of the NFL's annual rookie symposium in Carlsbad, Calif. The sessions, required by the league, are aimed at teaching and developing young players' life skills.
"Before I got here, I really wasn't sure how to handle everything. I'm still not sure how I'm going to handle everything," Bradford said. "That's why I think it is good that we have sessions like this."
Once NFL training camp starts in late July, Bradford expects to have little time to deal with anything other than football.
"For six months of the year, we're playing football. We're at the facility for 12 hours a day. We're on the road half the time for away games," he said. Among the lessons delivered this week was that everyone -- even famous, highly paid athletes -- must pay their bills.
Bradford and the other rookies this week played an online football game that moved the ball down the field as the offensive team correctly answered financial questions.
"I wish I could say we won, but we only got the ball once, and we scored and they scored," he said. "But my team, we didn't miss a question. The other team missed a question. I think we really won."
The soon-to-be millionaire, Bradford, has retained the frugality of a college student. His most extravagant recent purchase was a television for his St. Louis residence.
"I haven't signed my contract," he said. "I'm still pretty conservative right now."
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
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