The sad stories of 11 NFL players who lost millions of dollars

Sports Illustrated once estimated that roughly  80 percent of professional football players go broke once they retire. So here’s a list of some of the biggest players who lost tens of millions. Some were scammed, and others were just plain stupid, but we bet there’s at least one former player on the list you aren’t expecting to see.

Travis Henry is one of those players you kind of knew was going to absolutely implode as soon as he was off the field. While he was an amazing rusher and earned himself a hefty $22.5 million dollar fortune, he also lost that fortune pretty quickly. 

Henry was father to eleven children with ten different women and the New York Times reported in 2009 that his yearly child support payments reached upwards of $170,000 a year. Through a few drug trafficking charges, it's easy to picture how Henry lost his entire fortune…

Andre Rison was a wide receiver that had a very successful twelve-year career during which he played in five Pro Bowls and won one Super Bowl with the Green Bay Packers. Drafted in 1989 he earned a total of $19.17 million from his time on the field. 

Rison filed for bankruptcy in 1997 and blamed his high child support payments but it was really his lavish lifestyle. During an ESPN 30 for 30 interview, Rison revealed that he had once spent $1 million on jewelry and spent hundreds of thousands more trying to impress his teammates. 

Dermonti Dawson had a very successful thirteen-year career in which he played in the Pro Bowl seven times and was named All-Pro six times. In 2012 he was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame and reportedly made tens of millions during his time as a professional footballer. 

The sad part about Dawson’s epic $70 million dollar fall is that it wasn’t really his fault. Prior to the 2008 housing crisis, Dawson had diversified his money in real estate with multiple partners. But he didn’t own a controlling stake in any of his investments. 

Once the 2008 housing crash hit he lost everything. Dawson filed for bankruptcy in 2010 and declared he owned roughly $70 million dollars in assets all of which were valued at a measly $1.42 million dollars. 

Former Ravens cornerback Chris McAlister is one of the players you might be shocked to see on this list. During his career, he earned $55 million from his contracts so it’s a little hard to believe he lost it all. 

In 2011, it was reported by TMZ that McAlister was “broke as a joke and living with [his] parents.” It’s really not clear how he lost his $55 million fortune but it may have started some time in 2009 when he was sued $2 million dollars for defaulting on a loan. 

Clinton Portis ran for over 12,000 yards in his career as one of the NFL's most productive running backs. He scored 80 touchdowns and left his professional career after earning 43.1 million dollars

Portis lost $3.1 million dollars after he made a bad investment in an Alabama casino on the advice of financial advisors Jeff Rubin and Jinesh Brahmatt and racked up hundreds of thousands more in debt to the Internal Revenue Service, the Borgata casino, and even his own mother. 

There was never really another New Orleans Saint that was paid as highly as Deuce McAllister during his nine-year career in Louisiana. 

McAllister was actually the second highest-paid running back in the league after he signed his 53.2 million dollar contract with the Saints. 

Tracing McAllister’s financial blunders is a little difficult. But his troubles seem to have started when he invested in a luxury car dealership, a business that put him more than $6.6 million dollars in debt. 

McAllister declared bankruptcy protection in 2009 and his New Orleans home was auctioned off in 2011 for $880,000 by the St. Charles Parish Sheriff’s Office according to NOLA.com. 

Terrell Ownes was one of the best wide receivers of his generation and maybe one of the greatest of all time. Maybe that's why he reportedly earned upwards of $80 million dollars throughout his career.

Unfortunately, Owens lost everything after a “string of bad decisions apparently cost the wider most of his $80 million net worth,” according to sportscasting.com. 

Mark Brunall had one of the most storied careers of any NFL quarterback and was compensated to the tune of $50 million dollars for his success on the field. 

Brunel retired in 2011 and ran out of money that same year. How you might ask? Well, it seems like he really didn’t understand how to preserve wealth. 

Brunel spent tens of millions on a massive mansion for himself and lost just as much in various real estate deals. When the 2008 housing bubble burst, he lost everything, even the $9 million he invested into a Whataburger franchise…

Johnny Unitas started off as an all-around failure when it came to football and money. Unitas never actually played professional football after he was drafted since he was cut from the Pittsburgh Steelers before he had a chance to take the field. 

But Unitas did have a somewhat successful semi-pro career that netted him the recognition of the Baltimore Colts who eventually signed him to their team and lead his spectacularly successful quarterback career. 

Unfortunately, Unitas was a pretty terrible businessman. Every company he ever bought always managed to quickly fall apart, but there was one big mistake that ruined him. 

Unitas was forced to file for bankruptcy in 1991 after a $5.3 million dollar deal to buy National Circuits went bad and he was left holding the bag for a loan he personally guaranteed. 

Dan Marino was a five-time league passing champ and just about the last guy you’d expect to a substantial portion of the $51.1 million dollars he earned over his career.

Marino made headlines in 2012 when he lost tens of millions of dollars after Digital Domain Media Group went bankrupt. 

Luckily Marino was able to recover a small portion of his money but it was reported that he still lost $13.6 million dollars after the dust had cleared. 

Michael Vick didn’t just lose hundreds of millions of dollars, he also lost his career and the respect of nearly every fan of the sport. 

Vick was a once-in-a-generation type player who revolutionized the quarterback position. Sadly Vick's off-field behavior running an illegal dog fighting ring lost him his entire $130 million fortune, some of which Vick has said “deserved” during an interview with 60 Minutes.