no any NFL athlete signed a multi-million dollar contract to play professional football, leaving their families to supplement their incomes elsewhere.
“I’m just going to get the truth straight: we have multiple sources of income that we’ve built up over the last seven years,” Allison Couch, who is married to a free agent Isaac Rochellesaid in the November 2023 episode. on her Sunday Sports Club podcast. “Also, if you’ve been in the NFL for seven years and you have to immediately find a job the second you get laid off, something’s not right.”
Kuch and Rochelle, who welcomed daughter Scotty in December 2023, don’t rely solely on his NFL salary — especially while he remains unsigned. They also have her podcast, his husband’s PSA merchandise, and various other deals and social media endorsements that add to their family’s income.
Jason Kellsmeanwhile, played all 14 seasons of his NFL career with the Philadelphia Eagles before retiring in March 2024. He is also an ESPN broadcaster and co-host of the New Heights podcast with brother Travis Kelce. While the podcast was recently sold to Wondery for millions, Jason and his wife Kylie Kells still keep their home life relatively modest. (They share three daughters and are expecting baby #4 as of November 2024.)
“We make sure that everything we do, they feel supported by their family and friends, and then we don’t put them in privileged places,” Kylie exclusively speaking Us Weekly in June 2024 “(We) do everything we can to make sure that when they grow up and turn 16, they drive (a used vehicle). We can’t let them have a manual car at this point. You won’t take Dad’s CyberTruck (Tesla) as your hand. You’ll be driving a base model, hopefully needing to wind down the windows.
Keep scrolling for more on the behind-the-scenes realities of the NFL and star finances:
Salary talk
Despite players like Patrick Mahomes, Dak Prescott and Aaron Rodgers grabbing the big bucks, not all NFL contracts are created equal. Retired athlete Chad Hansenthe wife Bryce Watts Hansen, close the claims that “all NFL players are millionaires” in a series of TikTok videos from December 2024.
Actually, Bryce said that the couple lives in a 700-square-foot apartment with the same battered couch they’ve kept since he signed his rookie contract with the New York Jets.
“He’s been on eight different NFL teams, which means eight different contracts are being signed and broken,” she explained in video. “When you’re on a team, it’s good money — no matter (if you’re on) practice squad or active roster, it’s all good money.”
She added: “But because contracts aren’t guaranteed … (once you’re cut) you don’t get anything, especially if you sign at the beginning of the offseason and then they cut you during the offseason. You don’t see any of that money because you didn’t play over and over, you didn’t go to practice.”
According to Bryce, they also spent most of his wages on expenses related to moving between teams, in addition to doctor’s appointments and other necessary expenses.
“The costs really start to add up, so you have to (decide), ‘We’re not going to buy new furniture, we’re going to spend it on something for his body or a recovery tool,'” Bryce added. “It ended up helping us and him.”
Dealing with insurance
Like any employer, the NFL offers insurance to active players in the league.
“They don’t even get whole life insurance,” Couch said in July 2024 TikTok video. “Some players who only play one game, I understand, but Tom Brady? It is only insured for another four years.
Couch is in Rochelle’s plan, which is “rebooted” every time he signs with a new team.
“Last year, because my husband was employed by the Las Vegas Raiders, he got insurance for the entire year at work,” she said. “Since this year of work is up, we get insurance for another five years. Every year my husband continues to play, reboots for another five years.
So even though Rochelle was suspended by the Raiders weeks before Couch gave birth, her shipping bill was still covered by their insurance provider.
The cost of uniforms
According to Bryce, athletes cannot keep their jerseys without paying for them. She revealed in another December 2024 TikTok that Chad only purchased helmets for two of the eight teams he played for during his career.
“I think jerseys can be up to $600 or something, so when (athletes) change after the game, you have to pay for that,” she said. “He wanted to buy a helmet for a few more, but when you’re cut, the last thing you want to do is buy a helmet that costs a few hundred dollars.”
Game day ticketing
While many NFL wives and their children are staples at football games, it’s not always easy to secure tickets.
“NFL tickets are not free, even if your spouse or friend is on the team,” Bryce said on Dec. 3, 2024. TikTok video. “They get a certain amount and have to transfer it from another player if they don’t get enough for the family members – but they also pay a tax.”
According to Bryce, the tickets were scattered around the stadium in different sections to other fans.
“You don’t get some kind of ‘premium’ front row seat,” she explained. “Also when you see people in the box? Even the big players? They pay for them. They paid for these boxes, they don’t get them for free.
Travis Kelcein turn, spent over $3 million for a Super Bowl 2024 box for a girlfriend Taylor Swiftboth to their families and a bunch of famous friends. The big game was played at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, which also has a “Field Club” right next door, complete with tables and bottle service.
“It’s a crazy amount of money to get one of those booths at the Field Club,” Kylie Colewho is married to a Raiders punter AJ Cole, said on Kuch’s podcast in October 2024, which confirms that seats are selling for approximately $30,000 per table.
In Los Angeles, Kelly Stafford had to pay for an apartment to accommodate her and the Rams quarterback Matthew Staffordhas four daughters.
“There’s this section in the apartment where the food is and you can sit and have a cocktail or something to eat and my kids are sitting there coloring,” Kelly told her “Morning After” podcast. in October 2024 “I go, ‘Hey, there’s a reason I’m bringing you to these games. Frankly, it’s a wasted ticket. You can do this at home, watch on TV and color.”
Kelly added, “As much as I want them to be there because I know their dad wants them there, I also think, am I wasting money taking you to these games?”
All types of fines
Many athletes also had to set aside a portion of their salaries to pay off league debts.
“You can get fined for a lot of different things in the NFL,” Saints star Juan Johnsonthe wife Chan Johnsonsaid on TikTok since October 2024 video. “The fines come either from the NFL itself or from your team specifically, like if you’re late for practice or late for a meeting … or do something in a game that’s bad.”
According to the Channel, Juwan has only been fined $2,000 for “failing a weight test” in his entire five-year NFL career.
A year earlier, Rochelle revealed to her TikTok that in his rookie year with the Los Angeles Chargers he was fined $30,000 for a midgame fight.
“Everybody in the NFL knows if you have a FedEx package in your locker, you’re going to get fined,” Rochelle quipped. “You’re paying someone. I opened it up and sure enough it’s $30,000. Mind you, at this point I was making $500 a week during training camp, so that was way more than I was even making in training camp.
Hierarchy among wives
Even the player’s contracts affect the dynamics with the players’ spouses.
“For wives, for sure (there is a hierarchy). There’s a diverse cast within a cast, but if you think about a group of 53 girls in a room, you’re not going to get along with every single one of them,” Couch said on “The Viall Files” podcast in August 2024. “You’re going to gravitate towards different girls, whatever. There were teams that (Isaac) played for where girls wouldn’t give you time unless your husband had a certain contract size or he was a veteran.
Rochelle, for his part, said that the same hierarchy exists in the dressing room, but “it’s not that bad”.
“I think the boys are cool,” he said. “But there’s such a difference in how much people earn that it’s hard not to have that (to be something). Your teammate can earn 30 times more than you. If you have a guy making $4 million a game and then me — remember (I was making) $7,000 every two weeks — he doesn’t care about me. There is no way. If he’s really worried about winning, he’s not worried about Isaac on the practice squad (in) his rookie year.”
