GQ
Running back LeSean McCoy appears to have made a very wise decision when he signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers this past offseason.
Sure, he only played in 10 games, and only ran the ball 10 times, but the 32-year-old NFL veteran did make $1,050,000 ($105,000 for every time he carried the football) and now gets to be a part of a team with a shot at winning the Super Bowl. Not a bad deal.
All in all, over his 12 seasons as a pro, McCoy has earned over $63 million playing for the Eagles, Bills, Chiefs and Buccaneers.
His rookie contract with Philadelphia saw him receive around $1.9 million in his first year after being drafted in the second round out of the University of Pittsburgh.
Based on what McCoy tells the folks over at GQ this month, that first season’s money didn’t last very long as he explains exactly how he spent his first million dollars.
Not that he spent all of it poorly.
“I didn’t take care of myself first, I took care of my family,” Shady explained. “That way it still made me hungry, and wanted me to go out there and grind, to take care of myself.”
McCoy was then asked how much he’s saved, percentage-wise, and how much he has spent.
“So when I started becoming a really, really good player, I started getting a lot more endorsement deals,” said McCoy. “So you’re getting all these different small checks, you do appearances, you walk in there for an hour you get $20,000, $25,000, so I didn’t have to cut into my playing money as much. Never touching the guaranteed money, your salary is something that is permanent. My advisor has that, right, let’s put away.”
Related: Miami Heat Rookie Tyler Herro Reveals How He Spent His First $1 Million (And It Didn’t Take Long)
McCoy then gets to, as he calls it, “the good stuff” – how he spent his first million dollars.
“I threw my draft party, and that cost some money, so about 50 grand I mean. Before I even get to the NFL, $50,000 on my draft party,” McCoy revealed. “I had DJ Drama, he’s a [chuckles] very famous DJ, and I had him come out. Pay DJ Drama, I had to pay for the venue, we had to pay for the alcohol, like the props, we rented a car, I think I pulled up in a Maybach, the cameraman he gotta get paid, the flyer people, people to get the flyers, we paid for the radio.”
His next big purchase was “a big ol’ NFL chain” that cost $35,000 (and eventually got stolen while partying in Miami) and a Breitling watch that cost $20,000.
“Like nobody knew I played NFL… I don’t know why I did it, but I did it,” he said.
Then McCoy purchased a Mercedes-Benz S500 – that he still has – for around $100,000, and also bought a Hummer for $40,000 even though his agent told him to only buy one car.
Related: Washington Redskins QB Dwayne Haskins Shares How He Spent First Million After Making It To The NFL
He also had to drop $10K on a “rookie dinner” in Atlantic City that guys like Donovan McNabb and Brian Westbrook forced him to pay for, spent another $20K on a trip to Vegas with his friends, and an additional $100,000 on new clothes for himself, his friends, and various dates.
Shady also bought his dad an $80,000 Escalade, $400,000 to buy his mom and dad a new house, and $140,000 on a condo for himself in the same building where Michael Vick and Bernard Hopkins lived.
“I didn’t do too bad, but I ain’t do too good,” he said after he was done. “As I look at all this money, this million dollars that I spent in my first years, it’s tough to look at, it really is.”
Interestingly, Tua Tagovailoa, who said he plans to save his entire $30 million rookie contract and will live off the money he makes from endorsements, also recently shared, back in September before he’d even played a snap in the NFL, how he spent his first $1 million.
Much like McCoy, there was an Escalade involved.