Some National Football League players are notorious for leading lavish lifestyles.
San Francisco 49ers starting quarterback Brock Purdy, a captain on one of the league’s two remaining undefeated teams, isn’t one of them. He splits rent with one of his teammates, an offensive lineman, and drives a Toyota Sequoia SUV, he told NBC’s “TODAY” last week. His life off the field is “pretty simple,” Purdy said.
Purdy, a second-year professional, is currently playing on his rookie contract: He was the final pick of the 2022 NFL Draft, giving him a salary of $870,000 this year. For most people, that’s a high figure — but NFL careers are notoriously short, and Purdy got a taste of how easily a career-ending injury might happen upon tearing an elbow ligament during a playoff game last year.
San Francisco is also an expensive place to live. It has the the third-highest cost of living in the U.S., possibly contributing to Purdy’s desire for a roommate. A one-bedroom apartment or condo’s median monthly rent in San Francisco is $2,993 — 137% higher than the national median — according to Zillow data.
Purdy’s car might not have been cheap: Sequoias are typically the most expensive SUVs in Toyota’s lineup, with a new 2024 model starting at $73,465. Still, it’s hardly a million-dollar sports car, and it’s unclear what year Purdy’s vehicle is from, or whether it was purchased new or used.
Some professional athletes are notorious for saving their paychecks. Retired NFL tight end Rob Gronkowski, likely a future Hall of Famer, amassed roughly $70.63 million from his gameday salaries for his post-football career, living off endorsement money during his playing days.
“The whole point of saving throughout my NFL career was to be set for after football because you don’t know how long football will last,” Gronkowski told CNBC Make It in 2020.
National Basketball Association star Kawhi Leonard told Sports Illustrated in 2016 that he still drove his 20-year-old SUV from high school, despite earning more than $16 million dollars playing for the San Antonio Spurs that year.
And in baseball, New York Yankees star pitcher Gerrit Cole kept driving his 2006 Toyota Tacoma truck after signing a $324 million contract for a simple, logical reason: It still worked, he told NJ.com in 2021.
Purdy is in line for a raise once his four-year rookie contract draws closer to expiry: He assumed the 49ers’ starting job late last year and hasn’t relinquished it since. Starting quarterbacks on non-rookie contracts currently make an average of $38.06 million per year, according to a Make It analysis of Over the Cap data.
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