Lamar Jackson: Inside His Expanding Business Empire

October 11, 2025

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 Lamar Jackson:

  • Era 8 and Lifestyle Ventures

  • Food, Music, and Media Ventures

  • Community and Fitness Initiative

✍️Paper Play

Era 8 and Lifestyle Ventures

Lamar Jackson isn’t having the best of seasons in the NFL this year. His Baltimore Ravens are off to their worst start (1-4) since 2015, the year they went 5-11. He’s also injured, missed Week 5, and likely won’t return before Week 8.

But off the field, especially financially, Jackson is thriving. Like many of his peers, he’s not just a football player but also an investor, entrepreneur, and brand ambassador. 

One of Jackson’s biggest ventures is his own clothing apparel company, Era 8 Apparel. The quarterback founded the company in 2018. Yes, pretty much around the time when he was first dipping his toes in the NFL pool after winning the 2016 Heisman Trophy at Louisville.

Era 8 Apparel offers a wide range of lifestyle and athletic clothing and apparel lines. Their products include hoodies, t-shirts, and baseball caps. 

This brand also features a variety of accessories, including a unisex cologne, all branded with the QB’s ‘Era 8’ logo. Jackson’s motto, “Nobody Cares, Work Harder,” can also be found plastered across many items in the collection.

The company also serves as an avenue for Jackson to maintain a close connection with the youth in his communities through Era 8 Elite. This is a youth football organization that promotes both athletic development and community engagement. 

The marketing and message behind all of Jackson’s Era 8 projects are focused on the quarterback’s core values of self-belief, hard work, and strong leadership. These are the qualities he brings to the table both as a football player and as a businessman.

💸 Future Proof

Food, Music, and Media Ventures

Lamar Jackson has also invested in other sectors. 

For starters, pun intended, he opened Play Action Soul Food & More in 2022. It’s a soul food restaurant featuring Southern-style comfort dishes, from fried ribs to sweet potato pie. The spot also has a catchy slogan tied to Lamar: “You 8 yet?” It’s a funny pun on words that refer to Jackson’s jersey number.

Play Action Soul Food has an outlet in Pompano Beach, Florida, Jackson’s hometown. It serves as a local community eatery that’s connected to his brand identity. They use seasonal and local ingredients. And the chefs who work there have more than 20 years of experience among them. The company also has a food truck now, which has made appearances in cities outside of Pompano Beach. 

The Ravens QB has also become involved in the music and entertainment industry. His music label and production company, Lamar Jackson Entertainment, or LJ Entertainment, provides creative services across film, music, and video.

The main focus of LJ Entertainment is to promote music projects and collaborations under Jackson’s creative direction. He’s previously worked with popular artists like Kodak Black. As we know, the music industry is notoriously tough to break into, and Jackson is still working toward his breakthrough.

However, there is an industry that Lamar has made somewhat of a breakthrough in: Writing. That’s right, Jackson is now a children’s book author, and he has a publishing company called LJ Writes. Their initiative is to drive children’s literature and storytelling.

Lamar published his first book, I Dream, You Dream, Let Us Dream, in 2022. He has another book on the way, titled Lamar Ride, I Ride: The Vehicle To Success. 

From Lamar’s perspective, he entered children’s publishing to create a platform to share with the younger generation, the very ethos that has defined his career: Turn your dreams into reality. 

“It’s pretty much talking about dreaming… Me wanting to be an NFL player I’ve dreamed about that since I was a little kid, and my dreams came to reality,” Jackson once said about his first book.

Clearly, Jackson isn’t resting on his laurels and is determined to use his platform to inspire children to chase their dreams. 

💡 Gridiron Wallet Trivia

Did you know?
🌿 In 2022, Lamar Jackson filed a trademark lawsuit against an apparel company using variations of his jersey number “8” without permission. Jackson claimed the brand was profiting off his identity and filed through his company Era 8 Apparel to protect his name, likeness, and intellectual property—highlighting how NFL stars now defend their brand value like business assets.

🏈 ✨Dream Scheme

Community and Fitness Initiative

When people describe Jackson, it usually begins and ends with him being a two-time NFL MVP and a generational dual-threat quarterback. Then there are those who know that the Ravens star is the force behind Era 8 Apparel. But there is more to Jackson.

The star quarterback’s influence runs far deeper through his foundation, fitness ventures, and now, storytelling. 

Jackson’s philanthropy journey began in 2018. It was the year the Ravens drafted him as the 32nd overall pick. It’s the same year he created The Forever Dreamers Foundation. It’s a nonprofit that champions youth outreach, flag football, and community welfare events across Florida and beyond. 

“It’s our job to inspire the next generation. We live by our motto, Never Stop Dreaming,” reads the foundation’s mission statement. 

The program’s centerpiece, the Forever Dreamers Youth Football Program, takes care of everything from travel and lodging to uniforms, making sure that kids of all backgrounds can participate. Beyond sports, the foundation also focuses on mental health awareness, promoting the message that “it’s okay not to be okay.”

Seven years into his NFL career, Jackson has extended that same spirit of empowerment into the fitness world through The Entire Gym, a portable, all-in-one training system co-founded with entrepreneur Ken Francis. Designed to “make fitness accessible,” the compact rolling case includes dumbbells, resistance bands, a weight bar, and even a Bluetooth speaker. 

“Our mission is to empower people to reach their health goals on their own terms,” reads the brand’s statement. It’s truly a reflection of Lamar’s belief that fitness and self-improvement should never depend on privilege or circumstance.

To sum it up, from building gyms to building minds, Jackson’s off-field work shows his big heart and intent to help others chase their dreams. 

As someone who grew up in the trenches and poverty, Jackson knows how tough it is to leap through obstacles and become successful in life. So it’s beautiful to see the Ravens star play his part and help many like him have better guidance in this journey.

📆 NFL Money Stat of 1950

In 1950, the average NFL player's salary was around $5,000 per year—barely more than the national average income. Teams often struggled financially, with some franchises operating on annual budgets under $200,000. That same year, the NFL absorbed three AAFC teams, a move driven more by financial survival than expansion strategy.