The Athlete CEO: How NFL Players Build and Realize Their Worth

Riccardo Stewart joins Zach “The Truth” Miller, Sam “The Mayor” Acho, and Jeff “The Professor” Locke to draw up the playbook behind becoming the CEO of your own career as an NFL player. With Brock Purdy’s path—from Arizona high school standout, to last pick in the draft, to signing a $265 million extension—as the backdrop, the team unpacks what really drives value for pro athletes: performance, preparation, grit through setbacks, and knowing exactly who belongs in your circle. The conversation lays bare how discipline on and off the field, combined with relentless self-belief, is the foundation for maximizing long-term value and setting up a winning legacy.

Key Highlights:
• Why every athlete needs to run the business of themselves—not just play in the business of the NFL.
• Brock Purdy’s journey: overlooked and underestimated, but methodically building value through adversity, belief, and execution.
• The power of intellectual capital: seeing the whole field, staying prepared, and making the right decisions when the pressure’s highest.
• Grit forged in recovery and rejection: how setbacks and unseen effort fuel future contracts.
• How contract structure impacts long-term value: rookie wage scale, forms of guaranteed money, skill cap, injury clauses, timing, and the true meaning of “extension.”
• Why maximizing value means keeping your circle small and choosing partners carefully both on and off the field.

References:
• Brock Purdy contract extension: https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/45167784/san-francisco-brock-purdy-new-contract-extension-mr-irrelevant-big-expectations
• Shark Tank (ABC), as a metaphor for realizing value and investment: https://abc.com/show/535e2b07-18a9-4d94-9803-9ed8257b9d23
• Text in your questions: 602-989-5022

Creators and Guests

Host

Jeff Locke

Wealth Strategist and CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ (CFP®) at AWM Capital

Host

Riccardo Stewart

Former college character coach and Director of Human Capital & Family Leadership

Host

Sam Acho

Director of Human Capital and Impact and an in-studio and game analyst for ESPN.

Host

Zach Miller

Former NFL player and current CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ (CFP®)

What is NFL Players' Podcast?

The podcast by NFL players for NFL players. Each week, we break down the biggest events in football and how they directly impact a player's career and money.

Join Former NFL Veterans Sam Acho (Bills, Bucs, Bears & Cardinals), Zach Miller (Seahawks & Raiders), Jeff Locke (Vikings, Colts, Lions, 49ers), and college coach, Riccardo Stewart, for a raw and unfiltered conversation about the game, the business, and how players can achieve generational wealth.

Riccardo Stewart: Hey, I wanna
welcome you guys back to another

episode of the A-W-M-N-F-L podcast.

My name is Ricardo Stewart, I'm
your host and I'm joined with

my friends and coworkers here.

And, uh, I wanna take some time
to be able to reintroduce you

guys, especially new people who've
been listening to the podcast.

We got Zach Miller.

Who we call the truth because of his
knowledge, not only in the game of

football, but his financial wisdom.

I got my friend over here, Sam, I
told the mayor because if you've

seen Sam, if you've heard Sam, if
you've been around Sam, you know

that he gets everybody's votes vote.

And then the last person
we had here is Jeff Lock.

We call him the professor, not only
because of his wisdom and his unique

understanding of finance, but he has the
ability to be able to teach knowledge

and uh, be able to pass on the game.

And so guys.

We wanted to take some time to
be able to, to look at something

we talk about internally a lot,
and that is the athlete, CEO.

And one of the ways to think about it
for those of you who are listening is

there is the business of the NFL player.

You put in the name, and then
there's also the business of the NFL.

And then what happens
when those two overlap.

And so in today's episode, I wanna step
back and, and talk about greatness and

what does it look like to be elite,
and particularly how do these athletes,

particularly NFL players create that?

And so the first thing that comes to
mind is, years ago, probably 6, 7,

8 years ago, there was a commercial
that Adidas made, and it was a bunch

of elite athletes around a table.

It was soccer players, basketball
players, football players, and they talked

about what does it look like to create.

And It was just this picture of athletes
in themselves, they create value.

It's not their agents, it's not their
financial advisors, it's they themselves.

And there, there's this almost like artist
that comes to it of what does it look

like to be able to create, and we know
that there's a lot that goes in there.

There's a lot of discipline, there's
a lot of skill, there's a lot of

knowledge that goes to being successful.

And so I wanna start first with you, Sam.

How do NFL players begin to create value?

Now I'm gonna ask you to use an example.

I'm gonna tee you up a little bit
because there's been a few contracts

that have been assigned this summer,
and so maybe pick a, pick an athlete and

go, let's center in on how this person
might have created value for himself.

Sam Acho: Well, let's use Brock Purdy
as an example of how to create value.

I think of it.

Uh, very specifically each athlete,
no matter if you're an athlete or

a non-athlete, but we're talking
specifically with athletes, you have

a unique skill, gift, or ability.

That's why the team drafted you.

That's why you are where you are.

The way to create value is by figuring
out that skill and maximizing that skill.

So for Brock Purdy, he talk about
his intellectual capital, right?

His, his mind.

He talks up, there was a, a recent
podcast he did, he said about 40% of the

time he doesn't even see his receiver.

And it sounds crazy, but for those of
y'all who watch Ball, like everybody

on this podcast does, sometimes
you'll see Brock Purdy throw a pass.

It's like, dude, the receiver's
not even out of his break yet.

It's because he knows exactly
where the receiver is supposed

to be before the receiver gets
there, before the ball is snapped.

He knows okay, where he, he has a general
idea of, of what the safety's supposed to

do, where the linebacker's supposed to be.

So that's that idea of like, man,
that intellectual prowess, that's

what helps make Brock Purdy.

Brock Purdy, but it's not just
the good, it's also the bad.

The first time I met Brock Purdy was in
2023 Super Bowl after his rookie year,

and he had played an NFC Championship.

He tour his UCL, so I met him at
the Super Bowl radio row in a sling.

This dude was walking around in a sling.

Now you could argue this is before
Brock Purdy was was Brock Purdy.

But the fact of the matter is.

The guy who just signed that contract that
we're about to talk about went through

a huge deal of adversity from being Mr.

Irrelevant, the last guy picked in
the NFL draft to having a pretty

solid rookie year to all of a sudden.

Gets injured in NFC championship game.

But from that time till now,
yes, it was years of rehab.

Yes, it was years of belief.

But it's also him understanding, okay,
there's a, there's a runway that I

have, I have to attack this opportunity.

So that's that, that intellectual
capital, right, the physical

capital we've talked about.

But also the last piece I'll say is,
is Brock Purdy keeps his circle small.

You think about if you watch
commercials, you'll see him on a few.

You won't see him everywhere.

Social media, you won't
see him everywhere.

He is very specific on
who he partners with.

So the way you create value is not
just being a, a good or great football

player on the field, but it's also
knowing who's around you and maximizing

your play and turning your brand
into a business off of the field.

And so that's the way that's a person.

I'll use Brock Purdy as an
example, who has a great.

Had a great few years on the field,
but notice you're seeing him pop up

at Applebee's commercials and in,
in, in different car commercials,

et cetera, so that off the
field income is growing as well.

Riccardo Stewart: Jeff, just going back
to my, my picture of the artist, right?

I, I think about abstract art, and
I'm gonna surprise you guys a little

bit here, a little Jackson Pollock.

And usually you just see the, you know,
you go into the museum and you just see,

just you're looking like, what is this?

I'm like, oh, that's abstract.

Well, when it comes to the athlete,
the athlete doesn't create an abstract.

There's usually a story behind the
success, or we would say there's a

grit or a grind behind the glory.

And so Purdy has a story 'cause before
he becomes the highest paid quarterback,

before he becomes the NFL player.

Like I can even go back to being
from Arizona, living in Arizona,

watching him play in high school.

So as you, as you think about him
creating, what's some of the story

behind him, building that human capital?

Jeff Locke: Yeah, I think not unique
to to Brock, like all of us on this

call, no players, I mean all of
us ourselves, like you have to go

through adversity to create value.

Like that's just the story of an NFL
athlete and Brock's no different, right?

I went to small high school in Arizona.

Totally overlooked.

Three star coming out, even though
he was Gatorade National, or

Gatorade, Arizona Player of the Year.

Took his team to the state championship.

Still a couple offers goes to Iowa
State, becomes the dude though at Iowa

State, like becomes the QB right away.

Has a solid, solid career at
Iowa State NFL draft time still.

You know, no one's really
looking at him like he.

Maybe undrafted, you know, we're not sure
what's gonna happen with this guy doesn't

have what the NFL considers the physical
traits he needs to make it happen.

Right?

And like Sam said, he goes, Mr.

Irrelevant, last pick in the
draft, nine other, the ninth of

the nine QBs drafted that year.

Of those nine QBs, he's the only one
still on the team that drafted them.

Right.

Only one of the nine.

Crazy.

Just three years ago.

So adversity, adversity,
injury, bounce back, right?

Super Bowl, appearance.

Pro Bowl.

As a rookie right now, he's gotten
that contract, but I just, I imagine

all the times, like when I was
staying late, after practice, getting

there early to practice, doing all
the off season stuff and picturing

all the stuff Brock probably did.

To bounce back, not to bounce back,
but to build himself up from where

nobody thought he could get to.

Riccardo Stewart: Yeah.

Yeah.

You, you guys know this.

One of my favorite shows I love watching
is, is Shark Tank, and I love to see

what these entrepreneurs, they'll build
something and then they'll come inside

this room and they're trying to see
like who's willing to invest in this

value, this product that I've created.

And you always wonder after somebody
gives them their money, or if

people say, no, we don't want you.

Like, what happens with that story?

And oftentimes the artist puts in the work
and doesn't see the result of the work.

What is that ultimate result,
particularly as it looks like in money?

Zach?

Zach Miller: Well, for, for Brock,
it looks like 265 million extension,

and that's, that's essentially
what you want as an NFL player.

You wanna be paid the fair market value
for what you bring to the field and for

reality, you're locked up for so long.

With the team being basically paid
under what you should be being paid.

You look at the rookie wage scale,
you look at guys like Brock Purdy

that are drafted late, they're
playing on much smaller contracts

than they would get otherwise.

That's why, uh, risk, why, why there's
free, free agency takes so long to

get to why there's franchise tags.

All of those things exist to lower what
you, what you kind of are supposed to get.

So for you to be able to play out
a whole deal, get to either free

agency or get that extension that you
deserve, it takes a ton of sacrifice.

And it's crazy to think like.

That is what human capital is.

You are worth all this money.

Your bank account just doesn't show it.

It's just like, just like being
a small private company that

IPOs, it's just same thing.

There's, you're actually finally
realizing your value as a

player and to get that money.

I mean, that's generational
wealth when you get to kind

of get those kind of deals.

And so for Brock Purdy the five-year
extension 265 million We'll breakdown

What is, what does guaranteed money mean?

What does skill cap and injury like?

What do those guarantees actually mean?

And then what's a Front loaded contract
vs the back loaded contract when you

get the money in a contract matters.

True guarantees.

There's sometimes there's guarantees
and then there's fully guaranteed.

What's the difference between those two?

The contracts are so complex that
it takes, um, it's why, it's why the

entire agent field exists to be able
to get the best contracts for guys.

It's why players need agents.

It's why all of that even
exists is to get paid.

What you deserve is extremely
hard as an NFL player.

But if you do the right
things take of business.

It does finally get realized.

You get in the right
position, you end up like

right

quarterback.

Riccardo Stewart: Yeah,

there's this beautiful picture there of
the athlete being a CEO, and we said it

on the onset of this particular episode.

You gotta understand the business of
you as an NFL player that, not that

you yourself is always a business.

You are a, a person, created
what you've got, you got value,

beauty, dignity, and so forth.

But there's a business.

That you put in that physical,
that intellectual, and that social

work to be able to create value.

What we wanna talk about next in
the next episode is looking at,

okay, how do you monetize that?

And particularly what did
those contracts look like?

Or in essence, how did you
merge the business of you

with the business of the NFL?

So if there's something you heard
today, you wanna, I wanna know

more about this whole like athlete,
CEO, how do I create value?

Any questions you have,
please reach out to us.

You can shoot us a text.

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