If someone asked you, “who’s the richest NFL player of all time?” what would you say?

You wouldn’t even have to be a diehard football fan to venture a few reasonable guesses. Perhaps Peyton Manning? John Madden? Brett Favre? Joe Montana?

You’d be close with all of those guesses, but actually, the richest NFL player of all time is much less of a household name than all of those players.

That eliminates Tim Tebow, in case that was the only football player you knew the name of…


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Does the name Roger Staubach mean anything to you? No, we figured not. Unless your last name also happens to be Staubach and you’re related to Roger, you might not even know the difference from Roger Staubach or a football.

The $600 Million Dollar Man

Maybe the name Roger Staubach should mean something to us. After all, this guy knew how to make money! Perhaps the most surprising piece of trivia about his net worth, which is north of $600 million, is that very little of it came from his football career!

It’s not that Staubach wasn’t a good football player. Actually, he was pretty great at football. His bio includes two Super Bowl victories in which he was a crucial factor as the star quarterback and team MVP one year. He was also a six-time Pro-Bowler.


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So, how did Staubach make all of his money? Real estate. No, not like the “real estate agents” littered in your network, including your cousin, uncle, niece, and 40% of your college friends. Staubach was a legitimate real estate broker.

How Staubach Made All Of His Money

The key to his success, as with many wealthy people, was productivity. He didn’t spend his off-seasons laying poolside or lifting weight after weight while grunting relentlessly. Instead, he worked long hours as a real-estate broker to care for the needs of his family.

“I was 27 and we had three children,” shared Staubach.“If I got hurt, I knew I had a family to provide for, and it was not crazy money in the NFL then.”

Staubach didn’t get to his insanely high net worth with his part-time career in real estate. A short time after his retirement in 1979, Staubach started to aggressively expand his company. He proved that his earlier success was no fluke as his business began to grow rapidly, and eventually, Staubach looked to sell.

The Richest, Nicest Football Player We Know

In 2008, Staubach sold his company to Jones Lang Lasalle for roughly $640 million dollars. Not all of that money was Staubach’s, as he had given extensive equity to his employees as the company grew over the years. Still, he made some sweet dough, not to mention that he won over his employees by being one of the nicest bosses ever.


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So, were you surprised at who holds the title of richest NFL player of all time? Go impress your friends with your knowledge of random football trivia, but don’t forget to share this story on Facebook first!