THE N.F.L. DRAFT

The Class of ’90:
Where Are They Now?

By 
The 25 players selected in the first round of the 1990 N.F.L. draft paint a complex picture of life after football. Some have millions of dollars in the bank, while others have declared bankruptcy. Cortez Kennedy, Junior Seau and Emmitt Smith have been elected to the Hall of Fame; Tony Bennett avoids the game. Rodney Hampton, Mark Carrier and others are coaches. Keith McCants is a recovering addict. A quarter-century after the draft, they shared their stories.RELATED ARTICLE
  1. 1.Jeff George 
    Quarterback
    Jeff George playing for the Colts in 1990. George passed for more than 27,000 yards during a 12-season N.F.L. career, but he had only one playoff win. Stephen Dunn/Getty Images
    • COLLEGEIllinois
    • DRAFTED BYIndianapolis Colts
    • YEARS IN N.F.L.12
    • CAREER EARNINGS$30.2 million
    • CURRENT RESIDENCECarmel, Ind.
    The expectations on No. 1 overall draft picks are immense. Jeff George never seemed to live down the label. Although he played a dozen years in the N.F.L., he had a spotty record as a quarterback on five teams, many of them with losing records. Although he played his last game in 2001, at 34, he was convinced he could still contribute and kept trying out for teams hoping to catch one last break.
    That chance never came, so George returned to Indiana, where he grew up. Although he declined to be interviewed, George said in an emailed statement that he was active in business and owned some Dairy Queen franchises as well as insurance agencies and real estate. He added that he enjoyed being a part of his children’s lives. That includes rooting for his son, Jeff Jr., who is following in his father’s footsteps, hoping to be a quarterback at the University of Illinois.
  2. 2.Blair Thomas 
    Running Back
    Blair Thomas, a running back out of Penn State, was hampered by injuries during his N.F.L. career. George Rose/Getty Images
    • COLLEGEPenn State
    • DRAFTED BYJets
    • YEARS IN N.F.L.6
    • CAREER EARNINGS$5.8 million
    • CURRENT RESIDENCEKing of Prussia, Pa.
    Drafted before Emmitt Smith, who became the N.F.L.’s career leading rusher, Blair Thomas ended up disappointing Jets fans during four injury-plagued years in New York. He attributed the injuries to playing on artificial turf. At Penn State, where he was a Heisman Trophy candidate, he played on grass.
    “I remember having to take three or four Advils to get through warm-ups,” said Thomas, who left the N.F.L. after the 1995 season. “I was going to the chiropractor, having lower back issues, ankles, knees. It was a slew of things, and I couldn’t get my head wrapped around it at the time.”
    But Thomas never lost his love of the game. He returned to Philadelphia and coached at Temple for eight years. He then coached at Football University and Junior Ranks, two youth football programs, before starting the Blair Thomas Football Academy.
    “I looked at myself as a student of the game when I was playing, and I was always giving instructions to some of the young guys,” he said. “I always try to dumb it down and focus on the fundamentals.”
    Taking the advice of Joe Paterno, his college coach, Thomas remains active. He also produces podcasts and Internet television programs on Penn State’s football team and has a sports and entertainment company. After a few heart scares, he invested in his health. He lost weight, stopped eating meat and took a stake in a company called eMMortal Enterprises, which sells pain relief products made with magnesium. 
  3. 3.Cortez Kennedy 
    Defensive Tackle
    Seahawks defensive tackle Cortez Kennedy was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2012. Jason Miller/Getty Images
    • COLLEGEMiami
    • DRAFTED BYSeattle Seahawks
    • YEARS IN N.F.L.11
    • CAREER EARNINGS$31.3 million
    • CURRENT RESIDENCEOrlando, Fla.
    ORLANDO, Fla. — When Cortez Kennedy became a multimillionaire by signing with the Seattle Seahawks, his stepfather told him to buy what he liked in his first season and then start saving his money.
    So Kennedy bought six cars: one for his mother, one for his girlfriend and four for himself. After his financial adviser sent him the bill for auto insurance, he sold two of his cars.
    Lesson learned: Nothing is free, and saving money takes work.
    Kennedy has lived by those words ever since. He played his entire 11-year career in Seattle, 2,300 miles from his hometown, Wilson, Ark., away from the hangers-on who can sap a young athlete of his money. With the help of his agent, Robert Fraley, who died in 1999, Kennedy lived on a rigorous budget and today lives comfortably in an upscale golf community in Orlando.
    “I like to keep it simple,” he said over lunch at his clubhouse recently.
    Kennedy, who said he would have been a state trooper if he did not make it to the N.F.L., may be one of the most unassuming members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, whose members are given flashy yellow jackets and have their likenesses sculptured in bronze. He seems fine with that.
    After finishing his career in 2000 with eight Pro Bowl appearances, Kennedy did not trade on his name by hawking cars or endorsing get-rich-quick schemes. Instead, he returned to Arkansas to raise his daughter, Courtney, shuttling her to school and around town for seven years.
    Then they moved to Orlando so she could focus on studying and not live off her father’s name.
    Kennedy was an eight-time Pro Bowler during his 11-season career. Cheryl Hatch/Associated Press
    “We left because she was Cortez Kennedy’s daughter,” he said, sitting in his 2,800-square-foot home. “I wanted her to get away to where she wasn’t a big shot.”
    During N.F.L. training camp and the regular season, Kennedy works as an adviser to the New Orleans Saints, a job he obtained through Mickey Loomis, the team’s general manager, who worked for the Seahawks when Kennedy was a player.
    “He doesn’t have an official title, but I like having him around because he’s a good role model,” said Loomis, who asked Kennedy to be his son’s godfather. “This is a guy who had a lot of success, was able to protect what he earned, lived a good lifestyle and has done well 15 years after his career ended.”
    Kennedy has also worked as a community ambassador for the Seahawks. Once deer hunting season starts, though, he disappears for weeks.
    In Orlando, Kennedy likes to take visitors on a golf cart for tours of his neighborhood. He points to houses he says belong to Ian Poulter, the golfer; Senator Bill Nelson of Florida; and Lou Holtz, the retired football coach. He waves to everyone, including the groundskeepers and the construction workers.
    He also visits Dixie Fraley Keller, who was married to Robert Fraley when he died in a 1999 plane crash with the golfer Payne Stewart, who was also his client.
    As a player, Kennedy stayed with the Fraleys in the off-season to get in shape, and Dixie helped him find a house in the area. They remain close.
    “He’s one of the few clients who listened to Robert and took his advice and kept that counsel, and he still has his money,” she said.
  4. 4.Keith McCants 
    Linebacker
     
    PLAY VIDEO 6:20
    Keith McCants was the fourth pick in the 1990 draft. During his six seasons in the N.F.L., he became addicted to painkillers, and later went to jail, lived on the street and battled depression.Video by Kassie Bracken on April 29, 2015
    • COLLEGEAlabama
    • DRAFTED BYTampa Bay Buccaneers
    • YEARS IN N.F.L.6
    • CAREER EARNINGS$4.6 million
    • CURRENT RESIDENCESpring Hill, Fla.
    MIRAMAR, Fla. — Keith McCants wants you to listen to his story — almost demands it: the tough childhood growing up poor, the success on the football field, the injuries, the addiction to painkillers in his truncated professional career, the persistent pain and the crack cocaine he smoked to soothe it, the jail time, the years living on the street, the millions of dollars squandered and the debt that remains.
    A fearsome linebacker from Alabama, McCants was picked ahead of Junior Seau and other can’t-miss prospects. But his life in the 19 years since he left the N.F.L. has been a miserable tableau of bad luck, poor decisions and unfortunate timing. He is the quintessential cautionary tale.
    “I don’t want people to go through what I went through,” McCants said last month. “I feel it’s my duty as a retired player to explain the difference between being hurt and being injured. Guys come into the N.F.L., think football, football, football, but God forbid you get injured.”
    McCants may be the most vexing of the 25 first-round picks chosen a quarter-century ago. He was a gifted player who could have ended up as one of the best. He entered the draft to help his family, giving up a year of college eligibility. He figured that if he was injured, he might as well be paid first.
    After the draft but before his first game for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, he had bone chips removed from a knee. The surgery did not help, and he played hurt for his entire six-year career, he said. To appease his coaches and justify his contract — reported at the time to be for five years and $7.4 million, with $2.5 million at signing — he said he stayed on the field by doing what many players did: taking painkillers provided by team doctors and trainers. He was hooked.
    “I became a first-class junkie,” McCants said. “If a doctor put it in a bottle with tape on it with my name on it, I took it.”
    When his playing days ended, the agony persisted. He was no longer in the N.F.L. and doctors stopped filling his prescriptions. He turned to street drugs like crack. The arrests piled up, and he was in and out of rehabilitation clinics. He had numerous operations and became depressed. His marriage dissolved, his mother died, and his money disappeared. For two years, he lived on the streets in Tampa.
    “I became homicidal and suicidal and couldn’t be trusted,” he said. “I didn’t know where I was. I didn’t know about no family or nothing. I didn’t know who Keith McCants was.”
    McCants in 1992 as a linebacker for Tampa Bay. He became addicted to painkillers, he said, and after his N.F.L. career, he turned to crack cocaine. He lived on the streets in Tampa for two years. Otto Greule Jr./Getty Images
    McCants still lives in immense pain. He needs a hip replacement, but he has put off the operation because he is afraid of taking painkillers. His knees hurt, his sight has deteriorated and he does not sleep well.
    In the last six months, though, he said he found traction at Reawakenings, a substance-abuse treatment center near Fort Lauderdale, Fla. There, he has tried to remain sober and receive counseling to unravel the layers of psychic pain that have accumulated.
    “There’s always those root causes,” said Sean Lillis, the quality service manager at Reawakenings. “We’re trying to dive in to find out what led to the behavior.”
    As part of his recovery, McCants returns often to the center to speak to residents there about his tortured journey. Last month, he showed a half-dozen of them video clips of his days as a collegiate and pro player. Then he went into his story, including his attempts at suicide. He seems to have found his voice.
    “The main thing is I’ve been in the spot he’s been in because I had no self-esteem,” said Calvin Mitchell, 23, a resident and heroin addict who listened to McCants. “I don’t want to wait until I’m 40 or 50 to get it together. It’s people like him who give you the courage.”
    Inspired by the reaction, McCants is now talking to church groups, detox centers and members of the news media, and hopes to write a tell-all book. His real goal, though, is to speak to young N.F.L. players to warn them never to become like him.
    “Like the N.F.L., they don’t want to hear the truth, but I promise you, if they hire me, I can help them more than I can hurt them, and I can be an asset to them, more than anybody they got on their staff right now,” he said.
  5. 5.Junior Seau 
    Linebacker
    Junior Seau announcing his retirement in 2006 at the Chargers' training complex in San Diego. Seau, who committed suicide in 2012, will soon be inducted into the Hall of Fame.Sandy Huffaker/Associated Press
    • COLLEGESouthern California
    • DRAFTED BYSan Diego Chargers
    • YEARS IN N.F.L.20
    • CAREER EARNINGS$67.3 million
    • CURRENT RESIDENCEDied in 2012
    One of the many reasons Junior Seau’s decision to take his own life three years ago at age 43 was so shocking was because of his seeming invincibility. Seau played 20 years in the N.F.L., by far the longest among the 1990 first-round draft picks and practically a lifetime for a linebacker.
    “Junior was one of my guys, so it hit home as close as it could be,” said Mark Carrier, his teammate at Southern California, who was drafted right after him. “He never seemed to have a bad day.”
    For all his durability and fearlessness — he was chosen to play in the Pro Bowl a dozen times — Seau has become a prominent figure in the debate over the safety of football. After his death, he was found to have chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or C.T.E., a brain disease linked to repeated head hits. He reportedly dealt with insomnia, anxiety and mood swings.
    Seau’s family has sued the N.F.L., along with thousands of former players who claim the league hid from them the dangers of concussions. Given the diagnosis, his family is eligible for up to $4 million under the current settlement between the league and former players.
    But his family has opted out of that deal and instead is seeking a settlement based on Seau’s potential future earnings. The legal showdown could turn Seau’s induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame this summer into an uncomfortable affair.
  6. 6.Mark Carrier 
    Defensive Back
    Mark Carrier, a safety out of Southern California, made the Pro Bowl three times in his career.Lisa Genesen/Associated Press
    • COLLEGESouthern California
    • DRAFTED BYChicago Bears
    • YEARS IN N.F.L.11
    • CAREER EARNINGS$13.1 million
    • CURRENT RESIDENCECincinnati
    Nearly 15 years later, Mark Carrier still recalls the moment he ended his N.F.L. career. After years of bone-crushing tackles, brutal workouts and concussions, his body, especially his back, was not healing as fast as it did when he entered the league in 1990.
    In the summer of 2001, after refusing to take a pay cut, Carrier, a three-time Pro Bowl safety, was waived by the Washington Redskins. Not long after, the Lions expressed an interest in him, so he flew to Detroit. He wanted to speak to his wife in Arizona before making a decision, but his flight was grounded in Kansas City., Mo., on Sept. 11. On the long drive home, with the tragedy of that day as a backdrop, he chose to retire.
    “I had 18 hours to think about my life,” Carrier said. “I got out before my body failed me.”
    At home, he tried to figure out his next step. He had studied communications at Southern California and worked part time as a football analyst, so he could have jumped into broadcasting. But like other players, he wanted to first shake the regimented life he led as a football player and ponder the future.
    “I was in a haze, a funk,” said Carrier, who is now a defensive backs coach with the Cincinnati Bengals. 
    He added, referring to his wife Andrea: “After two years of watching soap operas, ‘General Hospital,’ she told me to get off the sofa and get moving.”
    Carrier had the luxury of taking his time because he was careful with his N.F.L. money. (His first contract was reported to be for five years and $3.65 million; he played 11 years total.) He had financial advisers he trusted, but kept them separate from his agent so there would be no double-dealing. “You got worried about whose interests he was looking out for,” he said.
    He did not buy a car until after his rookie season, using the bonus he had received for winning the Defensive Rookie of the Year Award. He went back to college in the off-season to finish his degree. He befriended veteran teammates on the Chicago Bears, like Dave Duerson, Ron Rivera and Mike Singletary, who showed him how to act as a professional.
    “I hated those guys the first weeks, but they were a big part of my development,” he said.
    While Carrier considered becoming a full-time broadcaster, he started coaching a youth team. It felt natural. So he coached a high school team and then took a job at Arizona State. Within a few years, he joined the Baltimore Ravens, then the Jets and now the Bengals.
    “I was advancing a lot faster in the coaching ranks,” he said.
    Having made the sometimes rocky and uncomfortable transition from the N.F.L. to life as a civilian, Carrier tells his players to start planning for the future.
    “My big thing now is it’s never too early to prepare for what you’re going to do for the rest of your life,” Carrier said. “I don’t care what round you’re in, it’s never going to be same.”
  7. 7.Andre Ware 
    Quarterback
    Lions quarterback Andre Ware in 1993. Ware, a Heisman Trophy winner out of Houston, began planning early for his post-N.F.L. career as a broadcaster. Lennox McLendon/Associated Press
    • COLLEGEHouston
    • DRAFTED BYDetroit Lions
    • YEARS IN N.F.L.4
    • CAREER EARNINGS$4.6 million
    • CURRENT RESIDENCESugar Land, Tex.
    Andre Ware started making plans for his post-N.F.L. life long before he took a snap for the Detroit Lions. At the University of Houston in the late 1980s, he befriended Warren Moon, the Hall of Fame quarterback who played for the Houston Oilers at the time.
    Moon mentored Ware on how to prepare for the N.F.L., what kind of agent to pick and how to use his name recognition to network in the business community. 
    “A lot of players get caught up in how long they think they can play, and control that situation, and a lot of guys are blindsided when they retire,” Ware said.
    Ware came to know television announcers like Lee Corso, Jim Nantz and Spencer Tillman and networked on the golf course before and after he retired from football in 1999 after tours in the N.F.L., the Canadian Football League and N.F.L. Europe.
    “As you do interviews, you’re taking cards and making sure you remain engaged in things you want to do along the way,” said Ware, who won the Heisman Trophy in his last year in college. “You shake one hand and move to the next and make sure you nurture those relationships.”
    After working with a software development company for a few years, Ware landed jobs as a broadcaster at a local radio station, as well as with ESPN, where he is a college football analyst. He also works as a radio announcer for the Houston Texans. 
    “My grandmother instilled in me that idle time was the devil’s playground,” Ware said recently after working 30 days in a row.
    Even with his busy schedule, Ware said he remains fanatical about exercising regularly to ward off the aches and pains that trouble many former players.
    “It’s sad for me when you look at certain guys who can barely walk,” he said. “You have to ask yourself, Was it all worth it?”
  8. 8.Chris Singleton 
    Linebacker
    Chris Singleton with Nicholas, his 16-year-old son, and Charlie, his dog, at home in Phoenix. Singleton, who struggled after his N.F.L. career, tried to kill himself last year.Nick Cote for The New York Times
    • COLLEGEArizona
    • DRAFTED BYNew England Patriots
    • YEARS IN N.F.L.7
    • CAREER EARNINGS$6.1 million
    • CURRENT RESIDENCEPhoenix
    Chris Singleton last played in an N.F.L. game in 1996, but it was not until last year that he put football fully behind him.
    Sure, he left the game with some of the millions of dollars he had earned as a linebacker for the New England Patriots and the Miami Dolphins; moved back to Arizona, where he had gone to college; worked at a series of pharmaceutical sales jobs; and helped raise a son and a daughter.
    But underneath the veneer of his seemingly normal life was a former N.F.L. player struggling to adapt to the loss of the big paychecks, the adulation of the fans and the camaraderie of his teammates, and the chance to play a game he loved.
    Unable to cope with that psychological loss — which was compounded by throbbing physical injuries, including four screws in his damaged ankle — he drank, cheated on his wife, divorced, spent his savings, declared bankruptcy, stopped exercising and gained a lot of weight. Then, last August, he tried to kill himself.
    “No matter what level, when you come out of the N.F.L., we have all sorts of issues,” said Singleton. “I still hurt, and it takes a big-time toll. We’re taught to self-medicate because we’re supposed to be warriors. I put everything on my shoulders, and dealing with the pain can be real destructive. I was married once and divorced after I got out of the N.F.L., and I attribute that to being angry that my career was over, and I thought I was still able to play.”
    Out of despair, hope arrived. His father, Sam, a former N.B.A. player who had been out of his life for years, returned and helped Chris receive medical attention. He worked with Gridiron Greats, a group that assists football players in need. Chris is now on the mend. He is eating better, has lost 30 pounds, is working at a new job and is talking more to his family.
    Singleton with the Patriots, who drafted him with the No. 8 pick in 1990. His twin, Kevin, said, “He’s done a lot of positive things to reorganize his life.”New England Patriots
    “It’s one day at a time,” he said. “You can struggle and fall down, but people will be there to help.”
    Singleton’s identical twin, Kevin, said that at some level he understood the pain Chris was going through. Kevin had also been expected to be drafted but in college learned he had leukemia. He survived, in part, because of bone marrow transplants from Chris, but he never made it to the N.F.L.
    He said that Chris was healthier and more open about his problems now, but that he wished he had not been so self-destructive.
    “Chris hit rock bottom instead of picking up the phone and saying, ‘I’m hurting,’” Kevin said. But, he added, “he’s done a lot of positive things to reorganize his life.”
    Part of moving on is letting go. Chris Singleton, who has remarried, said he had no regrets about the money he spent that could have been saved. He does not blame the N.F.L. for his problems but said there needed to be more programs to help players transition into life after football.
    “I’m not looking for any pity or sorrow for Chris — I got so much more from the N.F.L. than money,” he said. “I never thought I needed help. But the last five, six months, I’ve learned so much about the decisions I made.”
  9. 9.Richmond Webb 
    Offensive Tackle
     
    PLAY VIDEO 2:59
    Before signing as a top draft pick with the Miami Dolphins, Richmond Webb made a promise to his mother. After a football career in which he made seven Pro Bowls, the promise paid off.Video by Kassie Bracken and Jessica Naudziunas on April 29, 2015
    • COLLEGETexas A&M
    • DRAFTED BYMiami Dolphins
    • YEARS IN N.F.L.13
    • CAREER EARNINGS$25.7 million
    • CURRENT RESIDENCESpring, Tex.
    HOUSTON — Richmond Webb may be the only retired N.F.L. player in the belt filter press business. Not that he is complaining.
    Webb owns Environmental Machines & Services, which operates and rebuilds the heavy machinery that cleans drinking water and the runoff produced by chemical and mining companies.
    Compared with the careers in coaching, broadcasting and sales that many former players pursue, it is an obscure occupation. But Webb was not a typical N.F.L. player. He had majored in industrial distribution, a mix of marketing and engineering, while at Texas A&M.
    For 13 years, Webb also played one of the most anonymous yet most critical positions on the football field. An offensive tackle, he protected quarterbacks like Dan Marino. Yet he was rarely noticed unless he was penalized for holding or beaten by a rushing defender.
    The blue-collar aspect of the position suited the soft-spoken Webb. His father worked for years at a battery manufacturing plant in Dallas and often held a second job so Webb’s mother could raise their four children. His parents taught him to keep his nose down, work hard and get an education, something his former teammates recognized.
    “He had to be a true pro from the beginning, and because of his ability, he was able to play at the highest level from the start,” Marino said. Then, with a chuckle, he added, “He protected my back side for so many years, it’s probably why I’m as good looking as I am.”
    After Webb left the N.F.L. in 2002, he was undecided what to do next. He had money saved from living modestly during his playing days. So he stayed home, watched football games and nursed several injuries, including a sore elbow and a torn pectoral muscle.
    “Let me just slow down, take a deep breath, and it’ll come to me,” Webb said of his informal job search.
    In time, he started investing in real estate. He helped build a strip mall in Houston and condominiums in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and he began managing some rental properties.
    But three years ago, Webb was itching to do something that would fill more time. So he and his wife, Chandra, invested in the belt press company with a college friend of his who had worked in the industry for 15 years. Working behind the scenes to ensure a safe water supply piqued his interest and fit his personality.
    “I’m an offensive lineman — we don’t get a lot of the glory and stuff like that,” Webb said while standing next to one of the machines he operates at a water treatment center in Houston. “I don’t need to be out front saying, Hey, I did this or did that. That’s not my makeup. I just want to get the job done and do a good job.”
    Webb and his wife bought out his partner, but that created an immediate challenge: He had to drum up business, yet he was a newcomer. He has leaned on Travis McRay, one of his machinists, for technical expertise. But Webb said that he had to push himself to make sales calls.
    “I’m used to it now, but it used to be like Chinese,” he said. “I just held my poker face. I’d rather tell you I can’t do the job than lie and get a bad reputation.”
    Webb, blocking the Bills’ Bruce Smith in 1992, was selected to the Pro Bowl in each of his first seven seasons.Rick Stewart/Getty Images
    Despite his success as a college and professional player — he was selected to the Pro Bowl in each of his first seven seasons — Webb remains modest and can feel awkward trumpeting his N.F.L. career, even in Texas, where football is king.
    “He’s one of the most humble people you’d meet,” said Anna Culver, who handles some of the logistics for Webb’s company. “We tell him he needs to use his celebrity more.”
    But Webb is learning. His company won a contract to operate belt presses at the Houston water treatment center for Synagro, an industrial conglomerate. So far, Webb, who visits the job site several days a week, and his workers have delivered as promised.
    “I’m always plugging his business,” said Mark Vine, a regional manager for Synagro in Texas.
    Webb said he had more to do before he could feel entirely comfortable in his new role. But he is approaching his business the way he faced off against defensive linemen.
    “The only challenge is the unknown of learning something new,” he said. “Sports helped me tackle new things because you’re always being pushed, and when something happens, you don’t back down.”
  10. 10.Ray Agnew 
    Defensive End
    Ray Agnew, a defensive end, went to the Patriots as the No. 10 pick. After joining the Giants, he found his calling, he said, becoming a born-again Christian. New England Patriots
    • COLLEGENorth Carolina State
    • DRAFTED BYNew England Patriots
    • YEARS IN N.F.L.11
    • CAREER EARNINGS$13.3 million
    • CURRENT RESIDENCEChesterfield, Mo.
    Football was good to Ray Agnew. Because of his success on the field, he was able to leave his rough country hometown in North Carolina, study at North Carolina State and make it to the N.F.L., where he earned an estimated $13 million in 11 years.
    But it was not until Agnew left the New England Patriots, who drafted him, and joined the Giants that he found his calling. With help from the chaplain on the team, Agnew became a born-again Christian.
    “I was a young kid searching for something, and he led me to Christ,” Agnew said.
    After playing on a series of mediocre teams and enduring injuries to his hip, ankle and hands, Agnew landed on the Rams in St. Louis, where he led prayer sessions and became involved in a local church. Agnew went out with a bang: In his second-to-last season, the Rams won the Super Bowl.
    Agnew never left St. Louis. The day after he retired, the Rams hired him as the team pastor. He also worked as the director of player development and now is the director of pro personnel, which involves scouting opponents.
    “My kids were young and in school, and coaching was not real stable, so I chose scouting,” he said.
    Agnew has passed football to his three sons. Ray III is a fullback with the Dallas Cowboys; Malcolm is a running back at Southern Illinois; and Keenan, a defensive tackle, is a sophomore in high school. 
  11. 11.Anthony Smith 
    Defensive End
    Anthony Smith in 1994 with the Raiders, who were then based in Los Angeles. Smith, who has been charged in four murders, is in jail and awaiting a trial. Al Bello/Getty Images
    • COLLEGEArizona
    • DRAFTED BYLos Angeles Raiders
    • YEARS IN N.F.L.7
    • CAREER EARNINGS$10 million
    • CURRENT RESIDENCELos Angeles
    Of all the first-round draft picks in 1990, Anthony Smith may be the biggest enigma. Early in his career, he told reporters that he had started taking drugs at age 9 and that he had grown up in a rough part of Brooklyn. Two years later, he recanted the story but never said why. Though he was a talented defensive end, he never seemed to reach his potential with the Raiders, partly because of a knee injury.
    But he was active in Los Angeles, where the Raiders played then. He volunteered at a substance-abuse treatment program, was honored by the city for his work and married a former singer, Vanity. He stayed in California after he finished playing and was involved in a series of businesses. He had three children.
    But in 2003, he was accused of burning a furniture store in Santa Monica, Calif. The case was dismissed, but he was later accused, with two others, of murdering a man in 2008. Smith’s trial ended in a hung jury. The district attorney, though, not only recharged him with that murder but also charged him in three other cold cases.
    Smith, who divorced Vanity but remarried, has been in a jail in Los Angeles since 2011 and is fighting the charges, according to his lawyer, Michael Evans. On May 11, the court is expected to assign a trial date, which Evans said would probably be in September, when the N.F.L. season begins.
  12. 12.James Francis 
    Linebacker
    Linebacker James Francis with the Bengals in 1998. Francis had a 10-season career. David Seelig/Getty Images
    • COLLEGEBaylor
    • DRAFTED BYCincinnati Bengals
    • YEARS IN N.F.L.10
    • CAREER EARNINGS$12.1 million
    • CURRENT RESIDENCERound Rock, Tex.
    James Francis had a tumultuous career. A highly regarded linebacker from Baylor who was chosen by the Cincinnati Bengals, Francis overcame adversity to get to the N.F.L. Growing up in a town an hour outside of Waco, Tex., his mother died when he was young. Francis was raised by an aunt and was inspired by one of his brothers, Ron, who played cornerback for the Dallas Cowboys.
    “They were two of the better players I coached in my career, and two of the better young men,” said Grant Teaff, their coach at Baylor. “They did have a tough situation growing up, but they both turned out well.”
    Francis told 1660 ESPN radio in Waco that moving to Cincinnati was “a culture shock” for someone from a small town in Texas. The Bengals gave him a five-year, $2.5 million contract, and he rewarded them by helping them make the playoffs in his rookie year. But he ran into trouble with his coaches when he reported late to minicamp in 1993 and was fined for not showing up to a team physical. He did not receive a substantial bonus because he failed to attend another off-season workout.
    “A lot of people made a big deal of blowing the $250,000, but the business in the long run is going to make me more than $250,000,” Francis told reporters, referring to a restaurant business. “That’s my future. I’m not worried about making money.”
    Although he was durable during his 10-year career, he sustained a broken leg, a damaged ankle and torn cartilage in his knee. After he finished playing in 1999, he was twice charged with failing to pay child support and ordered to pay restitution, according to court papers.
    Francis, who did not respond to multiple requests for comment for this article, has two sons, James Jr. and Chris, who followed his footsteps and played football at Baylor. 
  13. 13.Percy Snow 
    Linebacker
    Linebacker Percy Snow played only three seasons in the N.F.L. According to public records, he filed for bankruptcy in 1999 and was part of an eviction proceeding in 2010.Stephen Dunn/Getty Images
    • COLLEGEMichigan State
    • DRAFTED BYKansas City Chiefs
    • YEARS IN N.F.L.3
    • CAREER EARNINGS$2 million
    • CURRENT RESIDENCECanton, Ohio
    Sometimes, surefire players turn out to be star-crossed. That was the case with Percy Snow, who played in only three N.F.L. seasons, the fewest among the 1990 first-round draft picks.
    A high school standout from Canton, Ohio, Snow starred for Michigan State, winning the Dick Butkus Award, given to the country’s top linebacker. In his first N.F.L. season, he made the Chiefs glad they chose him: He started 14 games and was voted the team’s top rookie.
    But in the off-season, according to news reports, he broke his ankle in a scooter accident and was never the same. He spent the 1991 season recuperating, and when he returned, he failed to win back his starting spot. After run-ins with Coach Marty Schottenheimer, he was traded to the Bears in Chicago, where he broke protocol by publicly criticizing his old coach.
    Snow, who did not reply to many requests for comment, returned to Ohio after he left the N.F.L. According to public records, he filed for bankruptcy in 1999, divorced and was part of an eviction proceeding in 2010.
    His N.F.L. career might have fizzled, but Snow was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame in 2013. Snow’s younger brother, Eric, starred in the N.B.A.
  14. 14.Renaldo Turnbull 
    Defensive End
    Saints defensive end Renaldo Turnbull (97) playing against the Cardinals in 1992. Turnbull, who became a stockbroker while in the N.F.L., is now a fitness trainer. Stephen Dunn/Getty Images
    • COLLEGEWest Virginia
    • DRAFTED BYNew Orleans Saints
    • YEARS IN N.F.L.8
    • CAREER EARNINGS$13.9 million
    • CURRENT RESIDENCEMatthews, N.C.
    Decades ago, before free agency and seven-figure salaries, many football players worked in the off-season to make ends meet. Renaldo Turnbull, who earned an estimated $14 million in his eight-year career with the New Orleans Saints and the Carolina Panthers, probably did not need to work, but he did so anyway.
    Encouraged by his stockbroker, Turnbull, who studied communications and computer science in college, started trading stocks as a way to keep track of his money. He became a broker himself, took M.B.A. classes at Tulane and saved as much as he could.
    “I had started thinking about it before I even got there,” Turnbull said of life after the N.F.L. “I was always thinking about what I wanted to do for the future. You saw both sides, players who did it right, and those who did it wrong.”
    Turnbull’s best year was 1993, when he was selected to play in the Pro Bowl. When he joined the Panthers in what turned out to be his final season, he knew he was done. He turned down an offer from the Broncos because his heart was no longer in the game.
    “I told the general manager from Denver that I didn’t want to sit there and feel like I’m just collecting a check,” Turnbull said.
    After leaving the N.F.L., Turnbull returned to New Orleans, where he worked as a stockbroker and a financial manager at a car dealership. He dabbled in real estate as well.
    After Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, he and his family moved to Charlotte, N.C. Tired of the hours in the financial industry, he became a fitness trainer. Luckily, he said he did not break any bones or damage any joints in the N.F.L., which allowed him to push his new clients the way he pushed himself as a player.
    “If you’re not going to work hard, I’m not going to work for you,” he said. “They know if you’re going to work with me, you’re going to work.”
  15. 15.Lamar Lathon 
    Linebacker
    Lamar Lathon with the Oilers in 1991. He made about $14 million in the N.F.L., but he spent extravagantly. Mitchell Layton/Getty Images
    • COLLEGEHouston
    • DRAFTED BYHouston Oilers
    • YEARS IN N.F.L.9
    • CAREER EARNINGS$14.5 million
    • CURRENT RESIDENCEMissouri City, Tex.
    Growing up in a small town an hour from Houston, Lamar Lathon came from modest means. So a quarter-century later, he still chuckles when he recalls the signing bonus he received from the Houston Oilers in 1990. Lathon took the $560,000 check to a bank, opened an account and put $460,000 into certificates of deposit. He stuffed the remaining $100,000 in a briefcase and went to the University of Houston, his alma mater.
    “I wanted to see how it would feel,” he said.
    In his dormitory, he gave his roommate $10,000 and two other linebackers $5,000 each. Then he went to the airport and flew to Los Angeles and visited Fred Segal, an upscale clothing retailer, where he splurged on suits and ties. Then he flew back to Texas, drove to his mother’s house and gave her $40,000.
    Playing in Houston turned out to be a mixed blessing. He felt comfortable in the Astrodome and with Jack Pardee, his college and pro coach, and he was near his mother, who made many sacrifices for him growing up. But it also meant he spent more on himself and his friends than he might have if he lived elsewhere. By his own estimate, he gave away about $1 million “to people who said it was going to be something that it wasn’t.”
    “It was great playing at home because it was familiar territory to me,” he said. “But it was one of my downfalls.”
    Despite his extravagance, Lathon said he managed to save a chunk of the estimated $14 million he made in his nine-year career. That money, he said, lasted until 2007. At the time, he owned a dozen properties. But when he overextended his line of credit, the bank cut him off. He sold the properties and cars to raise cash.
    “I was feeling very depressed,” he said. “I’m not glad I don’t have the money I had, but I don’t have the pressures I used to have.”
  16. 16.James Williams 
    Defensive Back
    Bills cornerback James Williams after an interception in the A.F.C. championship game in 1994. He reached the Super Bowl in each of his first four seasons. Bill Sikes/Associated Press
    • COLLEGEFresno State
    • DRAFTED BYBuffalo Bills
    • YEARS IN N.F.L.6
    • CAREER EARNINGS$3.9 million
    • CURRENT RESIDENCELas Vegas
    For a cornerback who walked on at Fresno State, James Williams started his N.F.L. career with a bang. Drafted by the Buffalo Bills, he went to the Super Bowl in each of his first four seasons. After the fourth consecutive Super Bowl loss, Williams joined the Cardinals in Arizona, where he broke both ankles, forcing him to miss the 1995 season. He signed with the San Francisco 49ers the next year but never returned to form.
    “My body couldn’t respond anymore,” said Williams, who also injured his knee and calf. Retirement is “always premature when you’re a competitor, but after a while your brain kicks in and tells you to hang it up and move on.”
    Rather than get depressed, he got busy. Williams, whose parents were farmers in the San Joaquin Valley, wanted to give back to the game that helped him earn nearly $4 million. He returned to Fresno State to finish his degree in criminology and began working toward a master’s degree in education.
    “When the choice is not yours, you struggle with it,” Williams said, referring to leaving the league. “I thought and scratched and tried to play with the teams, but my body wasn’t right. The transition was a big deal, but it wasn’t going to send me in some kind of depression.”
    Knowing his passion for the game, a friend suggested that he try coaching, and it stuck. He became a defensive backs coach at Cal Poly, San Jose State, Fresno State, California, Washington, and, currently, Nevada-Las Vegas.
    “The influence of being around coaches and how they impact other young men, it’s a way to give back,” he said.
  17. 17.Emmitt Smith 
    Running Back
    Emmitt Smith after the Cowboys won the N.F.C. title in January 1993. He is one of three Hall of Famers from the 1990 first-round draft class. Alex Garcia/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
    • COLLEGEFlorida
    • DRAFTED BYDallas Cowboys
    • YEARS IN N.F.L.15
    • CAREER EARNINGS$61.3 million
    • CURRENT RESIDENCEDallas
    One of the common denominators among the N.F.L. players who saved their money is the role of a central figure in their lives. For Emmitt Smith, the most famous player picked in the 1990 draft, that person was Charlie Edgar, who coached him as a youngster.
    When he was 11 or 12, Smith visited Edgar’s house in Pensacola, Fla. There, he saw a drafting board that Edgar used for his construction business. It made him realize that his coach worked for a living, and it made him realize that he would have to as well.
    “He taught me how to read floor plans and blueprints and proceeded to say: Get your education, you have a tremendous talent but there’s no telling how long or how far that talent will take you,” Smith said. “So I’ve always had in the back of my mind to prepare myself for when the game was going to be over.”
    As a rookie, Smith sought advice from Jerry Jones, the owner of the Cowboys who invited him into his office at the team’s training complex. Occasionally, Jones would put his business calls on speakerphone so Smith could listen and learn.
    “Having that one-on-one personal relationship with someone of that magnitude with a young person like myself who comes from a background that didn’t have that opportunity to talk to someone at that level or that ilk, it’s life-changing,” Smith said.
    Smith used his 15-year Hall of Fame career, during which he was paid an estimated $61 million, as a starting point for a career in business. He has worked as a television analyst for NFL Network and ESPN, endorsed a host of products, like those from Just for Men, and appeared on “Dancing With the Stars.”
    He also followed another Cowboys star, Roger Staubach, into real estate and started Emmitt Smith Enterprises, which includes businesses that build, manage and finance properties. Recently, he started Prova Group, a technology company that authenticates many products, including sports memorabilia — including some from his own collection. 
  18. 18.Tony Bennett 
    Linebacker
    Tony Bennett on Lake Okeechobee in Florida this month. “I’m just a good old country boy who wants to sit down and relax,” he said. Ryan Stone for The New York Times
    • COLLEGEMississippi
    • DRAFTED BYGreen Bay Packers
    • YEARS IN N.F.L.8
    • CAREER EARNINGS$13.8 million
    • CURRENT RESIDENCEFort Lauderdale, Fla.
    Some former N.F.L. players coach, some become television analysts, and some run foundations. A few, like Tony Bennett, who was picked by the Green Bay Packers, go fishing.
    “I didn’t want to be a coach, I didn’t want to be a scout — I’m just a good old country boy who wants to sit down and relax,” Bennett said as he drove from his home in Florida to Alabama for a bass fishing tournament. “Once you’re a pro, you’re a pro at everything. I don’t have football anymore, so you have to find something to be passionate about. I love to hunt; I love to fish.”
    Growing up in Alligator, Miss., in a home with no phone or television, Bennett fished when he was not working odd jobs. He fished on breaks from college at Mississippi and during the off-season in the N.F.L. He even woke up before dawn and went hunting before practice in Green Bay, where he played for the Packers for the first half of his eight-year career.
    “Tony is a character; he is unique,” said Darrell Thompson, his teammate then. “He’d be up at 4 in the morning and then come to practice. I was just trying to get to practice.”
    A devastating knee injury and botched operation forced Bennett to retire in 1997 after eight seasons, the last four spent with the Indianapolis Colts. Because Bennett did not live extravagantly during his playing days, he did not need to scrounge for work. He took the advice of a wealthy donor at Ole Miss who told him to put off buying fancy cars and a big house until he was an established player.
    Bennett, a linebacker, during his rookie year. A devastating knee injury and botched operation forced him to retire in 1997 after eight seasons. Tim DeFrisco/Getty Images
    He also resisted family and friends seeking handouts, something some players have been unable to do. Instead of giving them money, he offered to pay their tuition if they enrolled in college. No one took him up on the offer.
    “It’s not that I don’t help them, but it has a crippling effect,” he said of the handouts.
    By saving as much as he could, Bennett has had the freedom to spend time with his two teenage sons, fish and hunt, and nurse the aches and pains he accumulated playing linebacker. He moved from Indiana to Florida to soothe his creaky joints and bones. In addition to his damaged knee, Bennett had both hips replaced when he was 43.
    “I was on two canes barely getting around, but it wasn’t going to stop me from getting around,” Bennett said. “The fish are in the water.”
    Bennett does not regret playing football, though he wishes he had made more business contacts while he was in the N.F.L. He also wishes he had sought second and third opinions from doctors before agreeing to some of the operations on his knee.
    Despite his injuries, Bennett has not stopped his 15-year-old son from playing football. Like his father, who thought the game was too dangerous, Bennett watches his son play from the far end of the field because, in a way, it is too painful to watch up close.
    “I told him it’s a brutal sport, and I don’t want to see you get hurt,” Bennett said. But, he added, “I really had to not be selfish.”
  19. 19.Darrell Thompson 
    Running Back
    After his N.F.L. career, Darrell Thompson returned to Minnesota and became the president of Bolder Options, a nonprofit organization that mentors children from underprivileged backgrounds.Angela Jimenez for The New York Times
    • COLLEGEMinnesota
    • DRAFTED BYGreen Bay Packers
    • YEARS IN N.F.L.5
    • CAREER EARNINGS$2.7 million
    • CURRENT RESIDENCEPlymouth, Minn.
    The transition from well-paid football player to ordinary civilian seeking work can be rough. The paychecks are smaller, tables at crowded restaurants do not suddenly become available, and the structure of workouts and training camps disappears.
    But the shift for Darrell Thompson, who played five years for the Green Bay Packers, was about as seamless as that of any player chosen in the first round of the 1990 draft.
    As a star running back at Minnesota, Thompson knew his time in the N.F.L. could end abruptly because of injuries or a team’s change of heart, so he began to prepare for life after football before he signed his first contract.
    “It wasn’t that difficult to notice that it wasn’t going to be a long career for a running back,” Thompson said last month. “Even hypothetically, if I played a long career, I’d be 34 and I wouldn’t be sitting in a rocking chair.”
    Having grown up in a home that was a magnet for children in his neighborhood in Rochester, Minn., he was drawn to helping others. During college and his N.F.L. off-seasons, he spoke with underprivileged children in Minneapolis, which allowed him to meet probation officers, social workers and community activists.
    “I started in college and then sought it out, and the next thing you know, you’re running the book drive or driving the bus,” Thompson said. “I wanted to be honest with myself. This was what I wanted do when I left” the N.F.L.
    Thompson spent five years with the Packers, who chose him with the 19th pick in 1990.Green Bay Packers
    Indeed, Thompson’s pro football career was curtailed by injuries, partly because he was converted into a blocking back. He sustained separated shoulders, torn muscles and a handful of concussions. He retired because of bone spurs in his hips, one of which has been replaced. He has arthritis in his knees, shoulders and neck.
    “I don’t think most people understand the violence of the game,” Thompson, who also works as a radio analyst at Gophers football games, told The Star Tribune of Minneapolis a few years after he retired. “Think about standing 15 yards from your garage. Then run at it as hard as you can, hit it full speed and get up and do it over and over again.”
    But when he left the N.F.L. after the 1994 season, Thompson started working part time for Bolder Options, a nonprofit organization that mentors children from underprivileged backgrounds. Soon after, he became president of the group, which now works with 2,700 children and teenagers, 85 percent of whom come from families at or below the poverty line, and hundreds of volunteers.
    Like many nonprofit groups, Bolder Options is in constant need of money, so Thompson spends about half his time lobbying public officials and donors and hosting fund-raisers, including a golf tournament. He brings the same intensity and focus to fund-raising that he had as a football player.
    “It’s a daily battle,” said Thompson, who has four children. “The No. 1 thing is persistence and not giving up. It’s a grind, an ebb-and-flow business.”
    Lou Close, a board member, said Bolder Options had grown during Thompson’s tenure because he had learned to delegate responsibilities to others. This has allowed him to focus on fund-raising and other critical functions.
    “Darrell has a hard time saying no to people and can get stretched too thin,” he said. But “he’s become a better leader and understanding what he can and can’t do.”
  20. 20.Steve Broussard 
    Running Back
    Steve Broussard during his rookie year with the Falcons. He had several concussions, he said, adding, “My memory comes and goes.”George Rose/Getty Images
    • COLLEGEWashington State
    • DRAFTED BYAtlanta Falcons
    • YEARS IN N.F.L.9
    • CAREER EARNINGS$3.8 million
    • CURRENT RESIDENCELos Angeles
    Steve Broussard was like many players who make it to the N.F.L.: He was glad to be there and bathe in the splendor. Life in Atlanta, where he started his nine-year career with the Falcons, was a world away from Los Angeles, where he grew up, and Washington State in Pullman, Wash., where he went to school.
    Among other things, he bought a house for his parents and another for himself, as well as a car for his brother.
    “I didn’t make good decisions,” he said. “I lived the N.F.L. glamour life instead of understanding the business side of it. I was just happy to be there instead of maximizing things.”
    When his career ended, he returned to Los Angeles and tried to figure out what to do next. He finished his college degree, but also stopped working out, gained weight, became depressed and eventually divorced. A quarter-century after he was drafted, Broussard has none of the nearly $4 million he earned on the field.
    He also copes with the lingering effects of a variety of playing injuries, he said, including several concussions, one that knocked him out of a game. “My memory comes and goes, and I don’t think I’ve had a good night’s sleep in 15 years,” he said.
    The blessing, Broussard said, is that he has been able to carve out a career as a coach and teach young players not only the fundamentals of the game, but also how to live their lives. After teaching at two high schools in California, he landed jobs at Portland State, Washington State, Arizona State, U.C.L.A. and Southern Methodist. Ultimately, he said, “I’m looking to get a sniff from the N.F.L. to mentor young talent coming in.”
  21. 21.Eric Green 
    Tight End
    Eric Green, with the Steelers in 1994, was the only tight end chosen in the first round in 1990. He had nine knee operations. Mike Powell/Getty Images
    • COLLEGELiberty
    • DRAFTED BYPittsburgh Steelers
    • YEARS IN N.F.L.10
    • CAREER EARNINGS$11 million
    • CURRENT RESIDENCEWindermere, Fla.
    Eric Green beat the odds to get to the N.F.L., but he also paid a price. Growing up poor in Savannah, Ga., he won a scholarship to Liberty, where he made a name for himself as a tight end capable of blocking and catching passes downfield.
    Green was selected by the Pittsburgh Steelers — his favorite team growing up — and was the only tight end and N.C.A.A. Division I-AA player chosen in the first round of the 1990 draft. He had the distinction of playing for Chuck Noll, Don Shula and Bill Parcells, who had eight Super Bowl victories among them.
    “If I don’t know football, I’m a dummy,” he joked.
    Though he was chosen for the Pro Bowl twice and earned an estimated $11 million in his 10 years in the N.F.L., his career was slowed by injuries. He had nine knee operations and may need his left knee replaced. Green broke his ankle, injured his shoulder, punctured his lung and has chronic back pain and numbness down his left side.
    He also sustained several concussions, something that concerns him.
    “I do worry,” Green said, adding that he received disability benefits from the N.F.L. “I have memory issues a lot.”
    After he left the N.F.L., he worked in the front office for the Orlando Rage of the XFL, then coached with the Minnesota Vikings, the Frankfurt Galaxy in Europe and Central Florida. He speaks to youth football players, and one of his sons plays the game. 
  22. 22.Ben Smith 
    Defensive Back
    The Eagles’ Ben Smith (26) making a tackle in 1990. He is among the former players who have sued the N.F.L., claiming it hid the dangers of concussions. Mike Powell/Getty Images
    • COLLEGEGeorgia
    • DRAFTED BYPhiladelphia Eagles
    • YEARS IN N.F.L.6
    • CAREER EARNINGS$3.6 million
    • CURRENT RESIDENCEAmbler, Pa.
    Ben Smith was destined for great things when he was chosen by the Philadelphia Eagles. A quick-footed cornerback, he had a superb rookie season with 91 tackles and three interceptions. With his newfound money, he was able to help his family in Georgia.
    But in a reminder of how capricious football can be, he injured his knee, which turned out to be a life-altering event. He spent a season recuperating, but claimed that the surgery was botched. Some of his coaches doubted his dedication because he struggled to return to the field, according to Mark Bowden, who wrote a book about the 1992 Eagles, “Bringing the Heat.”
    Smith, who declined to be interviewed, also became hooked on painkillers to cope with the pain as he tried to return to the field, according to an article in Men’s Journal. He later sustained other injuries when he tried to compensate for the weak knee. After playing a season in Denver and two more in Arizona, where he was paid the minimum salary, Smith was out of football by 1996.
    But the addiction followed him home to Georgia. Smith did not quickly file retirement papers and spent his savings. He filed for bankruptcy in 2000, according to court papers. He considered suicide and sought help in detox clinics, according to Men’s Journal.
    Smith was one of the 5,000 or so players who sued the N.F.L., accusing the league of hiding the dangers of concussions, and he said he struggled with the effects of head trauma he absorbed as a player. A judge recently approved a settlement in the case, but it will probably be appealed. No payments will be made until the appeals are exhausted. 
  23. 23.Bern Brostek 
    Center
    The Rams' Bern Brostek (61) playing against the Eagles in 1995. Chronic back problems derailed his career. Ken White/Getty Images
    • COLLEGEWashington
    • DRAFTED BYLos Angeles Rams
    • YEARS IN N.F.L.8
    • CAREER EARNINGS$7.6 million
    • CURRENT RESIDENCEKamuela, Hawaii
    Bern Brostek got what he wanted out of the N.F.L. Born and raised in Hawaii to Russian and Hawaiian parents, he lives comfortably on the island of Hawaii nearly two decades after leaving the league.
    Brostek’s father, who worked in the construction business, taught him to buy only what he could afford and avoid going into debt. After he was drafted as a center out of Washington, Brostek bought a used Nissan pickup truck that he kept until he was married, when he splurged on a Ford F-150 pickup truck.
    “My thing was I saved everything,” said Brostek, who earned about $7.6 million in his eight years with the Rams in Anaheim and St. Louis. “I still have my lunch money from the fifth grade.”
    Asked if he was mocked for his modest ways, Brostek joked that his teammates often called him to jump-start their fancy cars. When a reporter covering the Rams asked Brostek what he was getting for Christmas, he replied, “Santa Claus usually gives me a 12-pack of Coors Light and my wife a 12-pack of Coors Light.”
    Brostek started 85 of the 105 games he played, but chronic back problems sank his career. “I had hit someone the wrong way in camp, and that was it,” he said. Playing on turf, he added, did not help.
    He returned to Hawaii and coached his son, who is an offensive lineman at Washington, and his daughter, who is on the high school track team. Otherwise, he keeps to himself.
    “I’m holding up pretty well,” he said with a laugh. “I just do some walking, something to make the beer case go away.”
  24. 24.Rodney Hampton 
    Running Back
     
    PLAY VIDEO 2:20
    Selected by the Giants in the first round, Rodney Hampton won a Super Bowl ring as a rookie and has credited his family with helping him avoid the pitfalls of instant success.Video by Kassie Bracken on April 29, 2015
    • COLLEGEGeorgia
    • DRAFTED BYGiants
    • YEARS IN N.F.L.8
    • CAREER EARNINGS$11.7 million
    • CURRENT RESIDENCEHouston
    HOUSTON — On a sweltering spring day this month, Rodney Hampton pulled up to an elementary school in his black Harley-Davidson edition Ford F-150 pickup truck.
    In a golf shirt, warm-up pants and wide-rimmed sunglasses, he grabbed a bag of footballs and cones from the back seat and walked with a slight limp, into the school.
    Hampton, who has “The Big Nasty” tattooed on his arm, seemed out of place amid the hundreds of children scampering past him.
    But when he arrived on a grassy patch of the playground, Hampton — who played his entire eight-year career as a running back with the Giants — was very much at home. He changed into a blue Giants jersey with his name and number (27) on the back, dropped cones to create the boundaries of a small field, and then was mobbed by the seven boys who arrived for a one-hour workout.
    About a third of the first-round picks from 1990 have made second careers as football coaches. But instead of working in stadiums and under the glare of television cameras, Hampton chose to focus on teaching young boys and teenagers the fundamentals of a game that turned him into a hero in his native Houston and provided him with a comfortable life.
    “Sports was the best thing that happened to me,” he said, adding that he was not much of a student. “My mom and dad told me, ‘Go out and help people.’”
    Five years ago, Hampton started Hamp’s Camp, a nonprofit that hosts free football camps, provides scholarships and puts on toy drives and other charitable ventures. Hampton finances the organization by teaching after-school sports classes, making appearances at autograph sessions and soliciting donations.
    The foundation, which Hampton’s wife, Detra, set up, formalized what Hampton had been doing ad hoc since he joined the N.F.L., and it crystallized his love of sports with his desire to give back to the community.
    Hampton said his family was a big reason he was able to have enough money to live and give. After he was drafted, Hampton chose Harry Daniels as his agent. Hampton’s father, Lee, was worried that Daniels might be unscrupulous, so he sent his oldest son, Kelvin, and his oldest daughter, Debbie, to Los Angeles to vet him.
    “Dad told us if Rodney loses one red penny, it’s on you,” Kelvin said. 
    Hampton in 1991. He has used his celebrity to help promote A Better Bail Bond, his family’s business.Stephen Dunn/Getty Imagess
    Daniels was told that he would negotiate Rodney’s contract (with Debbie sitting in on negotiations) and that his family would handle his personal finances. To preserve his newfound fortune, Rodney sent his paychecks to his family in Houston and lived off money earned from endorsements and appearances. Instead of buying a fleet of cars, he drove cars lent to him by dealers seeking his promotion.
    “My strategy was like, hey, I made it this far without money, so money don’t make me, you know, I make money,” Hampton said. “I’m not going to buy four or five cars and two or three houses. I can only drive one car at a time. I only stay at one place at a time.”
    Having won a Super Bowl his rookie season, Hampton used his celebrity to help promote A Better Bail Bond, his family’s business. Over the years, he has appeared in radio and television ads, and nearly two decades into retirement, Hampton’s face appears on billboards in Houston. He also plays cameos in video ads with lines like “Let running back Rodney Hampton show you how to be home for Christmas.”
    “His name, his notoriety, all that got us to where we are now,” said Kelvin Hampton, who has spearheaded the marketing of A Better Bail Bond, which has five locations.
    Hampton, though, spends most of his time teaching football and basketball to children. Except for the diamond-encrusted Super Bowl ring, Hampton looks like any other father coaching sports. “He’s a big kid who likes it more than the kids,” Detra Hampton said.
    Despite his football success, Hampton said his first love was basketball. Sitting at Triple J’s Smokehouse near his old high school, Hampton reminisced with the restaurant owner’s father, J.B. Scales, who is his godfather and former youth football coach. More than 30 years ago, Scales pushed Hampton to stick with football because he would have a better shot at a college scholarship.
    “I said, ‘He doesn’t have a future in the N.B.A., he has a future in football,’” Scales said.
    These days, Hampton copes with injuries: His left knee was replaced two years ago, and each morning he takes a hot shower to loosen his muscles. He started taking hot yoga, too.
    “I’m just, you know, taking one day at a time, trying to do something to stay active, move around,” Hampton said. “And I’m just blessed that I was able to play the game and get out while I could still walk.” 
  25. 25.Dexter Carter 
    Running Back
    Running back Dexter Carter with the 49ers in 1991. He recently became the director of external projects and athletics at Valor Academy in Jacksonville, Fla. George Rose/Getty Images
    • COLLEGEFlorida State
    • DRAFTED BYSan Francisco 49ers
    • YEARS IN N.F.L.7
    • CAREER EARNINGS$3.4 million
    • CURRENT RESIDENCEJacksonville, Fla.
    Dexter Carter might have been the unlikeliest first-round draft pick in 1990. Just 150 pounds in high school in a small town in Georgia, he lived with a coach to improve his grades and prepare for college. He ran for 1,800 yards in his senior year and won a scholarship to Florida State.
    There, Carter gained 20 pounds, getting to 170 pounds, his playing weight in the N.F.L. What he lacked in size, he made up for in speed. He became a popular kick and punt returner on some good San Francisco 49ers teams, including the 1994 squad, which won the Super Bowl.
    “It wasn’t that he jumped out to the fans, but the fans identified with him because he was their size,” said Keith Johnson, the high school coach who took him in. “It spoke volumes that the people liked him even as a special teams players.”
    Carter, who married early in his N.F.L. career, said his modesty and focus on his job slowed his preparation for the next phase.
    Playing so close to Silicon Valley, he said, “I wish I had trusted people enough to create relationships for long-term possibilities.”
    He returned to Florida after he left the N.F.L. in 1996, finished his undergraduate degree and later earned a master’s degree in business management. He was savvy enough to save some of the $3.4 million he earned as a player, but he spent much of it repairing a damaged knee, which led to other complications, including a staph infection. He had 17 operations in eight years, including a knee replacement at age 35.
    Carter has made motivational speeches and volunteered and worked as a coach, but when he sought other jobs, he sometimes found that employers were skeptical because they assumed he had a lot of money.
    “People don’t care if you played one year or 15 years, they just see the N.F.L. and they think you never have to work again.”
    Recently, though, he became the director of external projects and athletics at Valor Academy in Jacksonville, Fla., which he called “a new start.”
Jack Begg and Alain Delaquérière contributed research, and Spotrac provided career earnings. 
Correction: April 29, 2015 
An earlier version of this article misstated the current residence of Cortez Kennedy. It is Orlando, Fla., not Osceola, Ark.