NFl: Roundup
Barry Wilner / Associated Press
Marco Island, Fla.— Don’t buy that car. Shorten that vacation. Eat at home.
Whatever they do, NFL players have been warned for years about the need to save and importance of budgeting money in case of a work stoppage.
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Well, the lockout is here.
“We’ve been hammering the point home for two years that you have to be careful and you have to be prepared,” Browns linebacker Scott Fujita said. “Guys I know have made concessions.
“There are always a few guys you have to be concerned about, that you think might not have taken the right steps. It’s a part of the education process. Maybe you have to spoon-feed them on filling out direct deposit slips or coaching them on a change of lifestyle.”
The lifestyle for professional football players is a good one. Seahawks guard Chester Pitts, a nine-year veteran, calls it “very comfortable.”
But Pitts notes it also needs to have limitations, more so when the players have no money coming in from the owners because of the labor stalemate.
“The guys in the locker room call me the cheapest guy around,” Pitts said with a laugh, “but you have to be wise with your money. You can live a great life and still be careful and still be smart.
“I tell guys, ‘Why do you need that $250,000 car? A Mercedes is a great car and it’s $85,000. You can afford that on your salary, and what’s that ($250,000) car going to do for you?'”
Willie Colon didn’t need that advice; he already had decided to stay out of the automotive market this offseason.
Colon, a Steelers tackle who missed the 2010 season because of a torn right Achilles’ tendon, had thoughts of purchasing a car for himself and his brother.
Won’t happen.
“I wanted to buy a car for my brother because his car is beat up,” said Colon, who earned $2.198 million last year. “But I told him this is not the year to make a lot of moves, especially with me being a (restricted) free agent and the lockout.”
Colon also said he’s eating out less and being responsible with his money, something he admits wasn’t always the case.
“When I was coming into the league as a rookie and I was able to get a signing bonus, I was somewhat dumb in spending it,” he said.
Extra point
Cowboys cornerback Bryan McCann is denying reports he was intoxicated when arrested by Dallas police during the weekend.
WFAA-TV of Dallas and Fort Worth reported early Sunday that the former SMU star was arrested early Saturday, charged with public intoxication, taken to the Dallas city detox center about 3 a.m. Saturday and released almost eight hours later.
However, McCann issued a statement Sunday that he “was not intoxicated and did not pose a danger” to himself or others.