St. Louis Ram Leaves NFL and $37 Million to Become Farmer and Feed the Hungry

St. Louis Rams center Jason Brown has left the NFL to pursue farming:

“My agent told me, ‘You’re making the biggest mistake of your life,’” Brown told CBS. “And I looked right back at him and I said, ‘No I’m not. No I’m not.’”
Back in 2009, Brown signed a $37.5 million contract with the Rams, making him the highest paid center in all of football. He earned about $25 million of that contract and decided to leave the final year's $12.5 million on the table. Instead, he bought 1,000 acres of farmland in North Carolina.

Brown is doing this to help the less fortunate. He grows sweet potatoes and other vegetables and donates his harvest to food pantries. According to the New & Observer, he has given away 46,000 pounds of sweet potatoes and 10,000 pounds of cucumbers this fall.
Keep in mind the fact that Brown left the NFL at 29. He was going to get another pretty large contract to play for a few more years. Instead, in 2012 Brown began watching YouTube videos about farming in order to learn how to farm.

He calls his farm the "First Fruits Farm." And it's not only fruits and vegetables—congratulations are in order:

Jason Brown, the former NFL star who retired from football so he could grow crops to feed the hungry, delivered his own child Tuesday at his Louisburg home.
Brown and his wife, Tay, had planned to have help for the home birth, but the mother went through labor so quickly that Lunsford Bernard Brown III made his debut before the reinforcements could arrive.

Everything I've read about him so far is pretty great. So this Thanksgiving, raise a glass to Jason Brown and the many other kind souls who put people ahead of themselves.

http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-po...-and-37-million-become-farmer-and-feed-hungry

 

Heard about that story in my hometown paper in Raleigh. Hope he has resources to feed his family.

 

Let's assume he has spent 2 to 5 million to set up his farm and support himself over the last 7 years. Is there any plausible reason a person couldn't support their family with 20 million dollars for the rest of existence? Even running a non-profit farm, the tax kickbacks from the charity should pay any salaries and overhead he has. The agent's response is the best example of what most people have come to expect as normal in this society, which is sad.

 

Well to be real if he got 25 million he only saw 8 of because of fees and taxes.
Which in NC can still go a loooong way. Just looked up how much farms are and he probably spend 2 million appx so I'd say he's still good. He can maintain a great lifestyle for the remainder of his years.

 

On one hand I get not doing something that your heart is not into, no matter how much it seems like you are giving up. Especially at the NFL level, if his heart isn't into it, he was gonna get chewed up and spit out.

On the other hand I wonder why he felt he couldn't last for at least 1 more year (finish contract and collect $12.5 mil) if not finish his career in another 3-7 years and have more money to invest in his charitable deeds.

Either way as long as he is happy and hopefully he doesn't regret his decision or need money in the future.