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Joe Burrow: How the NFL’s Coolest Quarterback Built a $300M Blueprint
Welcome to Gridiron Wallet — where NFL players don’t just chase rings, they chase bags. From million-dollar grills to side hustles that slap, we’re decoding how football’s finest make it, spend it, and sometimes… fumble it. 🏈🔥
The latest edition of our newsletter covers Joe Burrow:
NFL Money: The $275 Million Franchise Bet
Endorsements & Brand Earnings: Quiet, Premium, Scalable
Investments, Spending Habits & Long-Term Wealth Strategy
✍️Paper Play
NFL Money: The $275 Million Franchise Bet
Joe Burrow is not where he wants to be in his NFL career. Or where most people would have thought he’d be by the time he reached 29, and his sixth season in the league.
It doesn’t seem like it’s been that long for Burrow because he’s missed so much time due to injury. But then, the guy’s almost 30, and he’s only been to the playoffs twice. Certainly not what we were expecting after that fairytale 2021 campaign with the Bengals in his sophomore year, which included a trip to the Super Bowl.
With his team missing the postseason for the third straight time this year, Burrow admitted he’s not even enjoying himself on the gridiron anymore. And while he said some off-field issues have contributed too, we know that when it comes to football, Burrow’s depression stems from the losses.
It’s certainly not from the pay, though.
There aren’t many athletes in the world who get paid more handsomely than Joe Burrow. In 2023, the Cincinnati Bengals handed the QB a five-year, $275 million contract that made him the highest-paid player in NFL history at $55 million a year.
The deal included a $40 million signing bonus, $146.51 million guaranteed at signing (third-most in the NFL), and $219.01 million in total guarantees (fourth-most). The deal runs through 2029, which means Burrow and the Bengals still have a long time together despite what NFL rumor mills are spitting out over the last couple of weeks.
In hindsight, it has been a blessing for Burrow that he has so much guaranteed money, because it protects him against injury risk. And he has got as much injury risk as any QB, having missed 23 of a possible 97 games across six seasons. That comes out to about one quarter of his pre-30-year-old NFL career spent on the bench.
That injury history, combined with the new revelation that he’s not sure if he’ll continue playing football if he doesn’t enjoy it, makes that $275 million deal (and all the accompanying guaranteed money) that much more crucial for Burrow’s financial future.
💸 Future Proof
Endorsements & Brand Earnings: Quiet, Premium, Scalable
Unlike many star quarterbacks, Burrow keeps his endorsement portfolio tight and selective. He prefers partnering with major brands that are well-established in the US market.
Burrow signed with Nike in 2020, even before he was drafted. After the Bengals selected him, the company already had custom apparel ready to sell. Since then, he has continued to have signature Nike footwear and apparel campaigns.
Around that same time, Burrow also signed deals with Bose and Buffalo Wild Wings. BWW actually catered his draft night party while music played through Bose speakers. He clearly knew how to play the game.
In June of 2022, Burrow became a brand ambassador for Kroger Health. Noticing food insecurity around Ohio and unhealthy lifestyles, the QB launched a partnership focused on promoting health. It began as a regional endorsement, but made a national impact through its visibility.
Burrow partnered with Body Armor, a performance drink, in July of 2023. By signing on, he joined an elite roster of athletes associated with the brand. The sports drink is known for using ‘real’ ingredients and has become a rival of popular brands like Gatorade.
All in all, Burrow is pulling in roughly $10 to $12 million per year, depending on incentives and campaign volume. Add this to his rookie extension contract worth $275 million, and he is making enough to enjoy more than a comfortable lifestyle.
However, the comfort stems from Burrow’s brand strategy. He avoids oversaturating himself with his partnerships, building an image based on confidence without flash, authenticity, and being “cool under pressure.” It’s helped him build a net worth of around $50 million. But along with the money he’s already collected from the NFL, it’s easy to predict that number will continue to grow.
💡 Gridiron Wallet Trivia
Did you know?
🌿 Joe Burrow earned approximately $64.1 million in cash in 2023 alone, the most any NFL player received in a single year at that point, thanks to his massive signing bonus and restructured salary from his record-setting extension with the Bengals.
🏈 ✨Dream Scheme
Investments, Spending Habits & Long-Term Wealth Strategy
Burrow’s approach to money is a lot like how he plays quarterback: Laser sharp, patient, and clear. The more we study his relationship with money, the more evidence we get that he takes almost no unnecessary risk and has a clear focus on long-term positioning over short-term gains.
In fact, the most flashy money-related news around Burrow was when he signed the five-year, $275 million contract extension with the Bengals. But this doesn’t mean his financial blueprint isn’t smart.
At the center of Burrow’s portfolio is real estate. Shortly after being drafted, he bought a modest $835,000 home in the Cincinnati area, a classic “starter” move for a rookie quarterback. That, however, changed in late 2023 and early 2024, when Burrow significantly upgraded, purchasing a $7.5 million mansion in Anderson Township.
The 7,000-plus square foot estate sits on three acres in a gated community near the Ohio River, offering privacy, security, and long-term value. The timing of this investment is also intriguing because, first, it came after his latest contract extension. And second, the purchase also benefited from lower initial property taxes.
Despite this house getting robbed in December last year, as things stand, there are no public reports of Burrow selling the property. Most believe that the status will remain the same till his commitment to Cincinnati stands firm.
Moving on from real estate, Burrow has been selective to the point of restraint. Unlike many peers, he has avoided direct investments in cryptocurrency or volatile assets. Instead, he has been part of some intriguing yet structured venture capital moves.
For instance, the Bengals star is part of Patricof Co.-led athlete investment groups and has backed ventures such as Fantasy Life, a sports media startup founded by Matthew Berry. He has also invested in Grow Therapy, a mental healthcare tech company, and has supported a new professional women’s volleyball league.
In 2023, Burrow joined 23 other athletes to collectively purchase a 104-acre corn and soy farm in Iowa for $5 million. That’s a tangible, low-volatility asset expected to give slow yet long returns.
That said, what seems to gather most of Burrow’s energy and efforts remains philanthropy. It all began in 2019, when Burrow’s Heisman speech sparked more than $1.8 million in donations for Athens County food pantries.
That moment led to the creation of the Joe Burrow Foundation in 2022, which focuses on youth mental health and food insecurity across Southeast Ohio, Baton Rouge, and Cincinnati. The foundation has reportedly paid medical bills for families, partnered with local housing organizations, and raised substantial funds through events like ‘Dine for Nine.’
Considering how Burrow hasn’t spent much energy on off-field wealth creation, it’s natural that his lifestyle and expenditure are equally lowkey. He has repeatedly stated that he doesn’t live off his NFL salary, instead using endorsement income while treating his contract as investment capital.
Burrow’s lifestyle also reflects that mindset. He is not known to be a big spender on cars, although he once came close to owning a $3 million Batmobile.
In essence, Joe Burrow’s sole focus remains on how much he can improve his on-field prowess. Because for QBs like him, the better you get, the more millions you add to your bank account. It’s the ones who lack Burrow’s talent who need to spend energy on diverse ways to multiply their money.
📆 NFL Money Stat of 2000
In 2000, the NFL signed an eight-year, $17.6 billion television deal with CBS, FOX, ABC, and ESPN—at the time, the largest TV contract in sports history—cementing the league's financial dominance heading into the new millennium.