When you hear the fact that an NFL team has upwards of $171 million to pay its players’ salaries, that seems like a crazy amount of money to us “regular folk.” But then you start thinking about how that pot of money has to be split among 53 players (meaning each salary averages just over $3 million if everyone was paid equally), and certain positions (like quarterback) make far more in salary than others (like the kicker). Still, as the saying goes, you might have to “rob Peter” in order to “pay Paul.” In other words: if someone is going to make more than average, then someone has to make less than average. And there are a lot of star players in the NFL who are making less than or equal to the average guys at their position. Here is our list of the 17 most underpaid NFL players:
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5 Fascinating Facts About 5 Famous Athletes
MICHAEL JORDAN: The story of Jordan being cut from his high school basketball team has long been part of his remarkable rise to stardom, but the story is somewhat misleading. Jordan was never actually "cut" from the team. He tried out for the Laney High School varsity team as a sophomore, and wound up on the junior varsity instead. Per sources, Laney was in need of taller players, so they passed on the 5'10" Jordan in favor of his 6'7" friend Leroy Smith.
TOM BRADY: Arguably the most accomplished player in NFL history, Tom Brady wasn't just a stud on the gridiron. In 1995, Brady was selected by the Montreal Expos in the MLB Draft, thanks to his talents as a catcher on his high school baseball team. He would skip out on playing in the major leagues and opt to play football at the University of Michigan instead, then, of course, in the NFL.
BABE RUTH: Although nearly a century has passed, it's still hard to believe that Babe Ruth was NOT a unanimous choice for the Baseball Hall of Fame. A year after his retirement, Ruth was among the five initial inductees elected to the new National Baseball Hall of Fame under construction in Cooperstown, New York. In spite of Ruth’s amazing career statistics, 11 of the 226 voters left him off their ballots, and the “Sultan of Swat” trailed Ty Cobb as the leading vote-getter.
TIGER WOODS: Most people don’t actually know the sad story behind the name “Tiger.” While serving in Vietnam, Earl Woods befriended a courageous colonel named Vuong Dang Phong, known as Tiger to his friends. According to Earl, shortly before the war ended, Tiger Phong disappeared without a trace. Earl Woods returned home without saying goodbye, but he kept the memory of Tiger with him—and thought of a way to pay tribute to his friend.
MUHAMMAD ALI: The gloves he wore to defeat Liston earned him more money than the victory itself. Almost 50 years to the day after Ali captured the heavyweight championship for the first time, an anonymous buyer purchased the gloves he wore to defeat Liston in the seventh-round technical knockout for $836,000. Ali only earned $630,000 for the victory itself.