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Ndamukong Suh’s Investment Playbook: From NFL Contracts to Venture Empire
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 Ndamukong Suh:
Major Investments & Business Ventures
NFL Earnings, Endorsements & Net Worth
Financial Philosophy & Philanthropy
💸Here Comes the Money
Major Investments & Business Ventures
Ndamukong Suh made his mark in the NFL, playing for 13 years. When he retired in 2022 after an illustrious career that was over four times longer than the average tenure in the league, he was still just 35 years old. He had to figure out what his next chapter would be, and whether he would remain in the game of football or venture out to new pastures.
Suh chose to explore. And he’s chosen many ventures ever since. He’s now built himself something of a ‘venture empire’, spanning a wide variety of industries, companies, investment levels, and types.
Suh was already pretty business savvy even before he was selected No. 2 overall by the Detroit Lions in the 2010 NFL Draft. He had worked out an endorsement deal with sports apparel giant Nike before being taken by the Lions.
During his career, he also engineered lucrative endorsement deals with other industry leaders: Subway, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Omaha Steaks, and Chrysler. The most impressive part is that Suh was generally viewed as a toxic or dirty player during his early years, despite his talent. So the fact that he was able to swing all of those deals was impressive.
And he’s brought that keen eye and those negotiation skills over to his post-NFL ventures as well. He is the managing partner at House of Spears Management LLC, which is an investment vehicle for him and his family. They have stakes in a wide variety of companies, including General Atlanta, Silofit, Metaplex, and more.
He has also delved deep into the real estate market through HMS Developments, which he co-founded. They run the gamut, building mixed-use, residential, and commercial real estate projects.
Suh is also big into the hospitality industry, where the company he founded, Generals Restaurant Group, owns restaurants and hotels in cities from Lincoln to Detroit to L.A.
The big fella has also been getting involved with startups, especially those in the new tech space. A few of his investments include Genies, Kindred, Momentous, Ember Technologies, and more.
Now that we’re seeing more and more retired professional athletes using their money intelligently, there are generally two avenues we’ve seen. They can either stay near the game and get a job as a coach or a media personality, or they can go the business route. Suh chose, and is thriving in the latter.
✍️Paper Play
NFL Earnings, Endorsements & Net Worth
Career Earnings & Net Worth
Ndamukong Suh earned a ton of money throughout his NFL playing career: $168.2 million across five different teams, to be exact.
In his career, Suh played with the Detroit Lions, Miami Dolphins, Los Angeles Rams, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and the Philadelphia Eagles. Upon arriving in Miami in 2015, he signed a record-setting 6-year, $114 million deal.
After inking that, Suh bought a $6.5 million home in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and he paid for it all in cash. He later sold it for $5.85 million, taking a $650k hit. Still, celebrity Net Worth estimates Suh’s current net worth at around $80 million.
Endorsement Deals
Suh has always kept a diverse range of endorsement partnerships in his portfolio. He’s had long-term deals with popular sponsors like Nike, Subway, Dick’s Sporting Goods, T-Mobile, Foot Locker, and even Omaha Steaks.
At the peak of his endorsement run, these deals earned him around $400k annually.
Suh also worked with Atmos, Beats by Dre, and Chrysler. Some of his controversial actions on the field often brought up questions about whether those sponsors would drop him. But the brands stood by Suh and his brand, never letting the things he did on the field affect their relationship.
💡 Gridiron Wallet Trivia
Did you know?
🌿 Ndamukong Suh interned at Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway during the offseason to sharpen his investing skills. Suh sought Buffett’s mentorship early in his career and even called him a “friend and advisor.” It’s a rare move for an NFL star—and part of why Suh quietly built a business empire alongside his $166M playing career.
🏈✨Right Mindset
Financial Philosophy & Philanthropy
There’s a difference between being rich and building wealth. That’s a concept Ndamukong Suh understood early on in his career.
A Super Bowl winner with over $168 million in NFL career earnings, Suh credits much of his wealth-building and investment discipline to advice he received from none other than Warren Buffett. He met the legendary business tycoon during his time at the University of Nebraska.
The former Bucs star, who is also a Berkshire Hathaway shareholder, reportedly still speaks with Buffett every quarter. That connection has allowed him to internalize one of the Oracle of Omaha’s most profound lessons: “People are the most important thing about businesses.”
Suh has carried this insight into every venture of his, from his real estate portfolio to his investments in over 30 startups and funds. That includes Andreessen Horowitz’s Cultural Leadership Fund and House of Spears Management, where he serves as managing partner.
Another key influence in Ndamukong Suh’s wealth-building journey has been Gary Shiffman, CEO of Sun Communities. Shiffman’s guidance helped the former NFL DT understand the compounding power of real estate and disciplined capital deployment.
While patience, human capital, and compounding instruments have helped Suh amass a net worth of $80 million, Suh realized the hard way that these insights alone aren’t enough for financial freedom and wealth creation.
In a 2021 viral tweet, he revealed one financial misstep from his 20s that he still regrets. “If I had bought bitcoin with the $50K I spent clubbing in 2015, I’d have ~$11.4M today,” wrote Suh.
Considering the cryptocurrency traded between $172 and $465 in 2015, Suh’s regret isn’t unfounded. Especially since 1 BTC today is valued at over $117,000.
However, on the flipside, the tweet encapsulated a truth many athletes and newly wealthy individuals rarely learn: Wealth is built through opportunity and cost awareness, not just income.
Since then, Suh has become a leading voice on money management. He vouches for principles like budgeting early, making money work while you sleep, and building your opportunities.
This mindset also drives his philanthropy. The ex-NFL star established the Suh Family Foundation, which focuses on education, health and wellness, and empowerment — the same pillars that shaped his journey in life.
Through the Foundation, he launched the Stash101 Summer School in Portland, bringing hands-on financial literacy education to 160 middle schoolers.
Suh has also donated a whopping $2.6 million to the University of Nebraska, supporting both the College of Engineering and athletics, while gifting $250,000 to his high school for facility upgrades.
Based on these instances, it’s clear that in Suh’s world, money isn’t just for spending. It’s for planting trees, the kind that yield fruit long after you’re gone. Or in other words, Legacy over Fame.
📆 NFL Money Stat of the 1920s
In the 1920s, some NFL players made as little as $50 per game—about $800 today. Teams often passed a hat around the stands to collect money to pay players after games. The league was so cash-strapped, players sometimes played both offense and defense just to keep roster sizes—and costs—down.