Financial Lessons from an NFL Star: Q & A with Arizona Cardinals Running Back Chase Edmonds

Michael Haddix Jr
Nov 1 · 5 min read

Arizona Cardinals running back Chase Edmonds is off to a strong start this season. He’s also succeeding off the field. I was fortunate to meet Chase before he was drafted in 2018 and was impressed about how he went about his business and his focus on building financial security. I spoke with Chase last week about some of the financial lessons he’s learned as an NFL player.

MH: What are a few lessons you’ve learned about finances since entering the NFL?

CE: I’ve learned how to budget. You hear stories about guys that have kind of lost their money and have bad spending habits. One thing that stuck out for me when I started was you only get paid during the 16 weeks of the season and then the payments stop. So guys will spend the money they think they have during the season and when those payments stop coming in, it’s all gone. So I always just try to save. My rule is I give myself $3–5K of leeway in terms of spending money per month and everything else I try to put in the bank.

MH: So how did you learn to do that? How did you come up with that number?

CE: I talked to my financial advisor, looked at my monthly bills, what I need to cover and we decided on a number. I don’t really spend a lot, but we tried to develop a number where it was like, ok, you can comfortably spend this per month and still work out whatever needs you have and you’ve still got money in the bank for the year.

MH: You mentioned your financial advisor. How did you manage building out your “team”? Obviously, when you get to the league have people coming at you from all different angles. What some of your tips to make sure you have the right people are around you?

CE: I’m a big believer in personal relationships. That means meeting a person and making sure I have face-to-face meetings as much as possible. One person that I always use in all my decision-making is my mom. I feel like everyone needs one person where it’s kind of like they’re your right-hand man, someone you really trust with your life decisions. My mom is that person for me. She’s involved. She’s intelligent. She probably cares more about it than I do, honestly. I made sure whatever decision I am going to make, I talk to my mom about it first.

MH: So how have you managed that dynamic? You have your mom that’s looking out for you, but you also have your team. How have you managed having your mom look things over when you also have people like your accountant and agent? How do you handle those relationships?

CE: Anything that I see, my mom also sees. But she still knows her lane. She’s my mother. She’s not my financial advisor. She’s not my lawyer. She’s not my agent. Obviously, I’m a grown man and have to make my own decisions with finance, especially with finance. But it isn’t that complicated. There are certain levels of expertise that my financial advisor has and that’s what they’re there for, it’s not something that’s going to be between just me and my mom. It’s about what you know and what you don’t know.

MH: Coming from a great school like Fordham, have you leveraged your college network to learn about business?

CE: I had the Fordham network working for me even before I got to the [NFL]. We have a football alum (a judge) who helped me a lot. When I was trying to find the right agent, I would have him interview the agents. He would do a complete background check on every single person I was talking to and just let me know what he thought about each person — their morals; were they a good person? Did they have a good background? Through our Fordham alumni I got to meet with certain guys who were experts at managing players’ finances in the MLB, NBA and other sports. I’ve definitely used the Fordham network.

MH: I know you’ve only played for two years, but is there any advice you’d have for your younger self? Are there any mistakes you’ve made with finances that you regret?

CE: One thing I wish I could have told my younger self is to know how to say “no” to people. Early in my rookie year, I had people reaching out to me for money. It wasn’t a crazy amount, and I would always do it because I felt like that person was close enough to me to the point where they truly did appreciate me for the type of person I was — we had a good friendship or relationship. But stuff adds up.

You tell somebody one time, “Okay, I can help you out with this — don’t worry about paying me back because you don’t need to, you really are one of those genuine people and we go way back.”

But then they ask you again. And then you’re like, “Okay, man, I know this is a hard time for you, I’ll do it.” And then they ask you again. And then it kind of just keeps going on. So one thing I would tell myself is, “You’ve got to say ‘no’.”

And you’ve got to know how to discuss money where it’s like, “I know I’ve got it, I can afford to give you this money, but you know, I’ve got situations of my own. I’ve got to sustain ‘x’ amount of dollars. I’ve got ‘x’ amount for my family, for myself.”

I think that’s hard. That’s hard for good people to do because obviously you want to be a good person, always. You want to be that person that someone can count on, but you’ve got to find a way to have a level of understanding that’s like: I just can’t be giving out all this money.

MH: What resources have you used to get smarter with this stuff?

CE: For me, the number one resource is the NFL players. At least with the Cardinals we have a great locker room of brothers who know how to invest their money and who can help younger guys get started. It’s so important. You can reach out to outside resources, but most people don’t really walk in your shoes — they don’t know what it’s like to have all that money, be so young and have all these people reaching and grabbing. I like talking to the NFL vets just because they’ve been there, they’ve done that, they’ve made the same mistakes or even worse mistakes and they’ve learned how not to make those mistakes. I go to them all the time. They know how to keep it real with you, what to avoid, what to try to dig into a little more. Larry [Fitzgerald] has helped me out a lot, so has Justin Pugh. They’ve taught me so much in terms of basic knowledge. You can talk to someone who has all the knowledge in the world about finances, investments, but when they start talking, you get kind of lost — I don’t understand what this dude is really saying. I feel like NFL vets have been there and when I talk to them, I can quickly get to a level of understanding of what’s really going on.

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Founder and CEO of Empower3d: Educating, Elevating, & Empowering The Modern Athlete

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