Saquon Barkley (Image via Getty Images)
2 overall pick in 2018 and signed a $31.2 million rookie contract. And just live off the endorsement deals,’” Barkley told ESPN in 2018. Barkley has invested in more than 10 startups, with individual investments typically ranging from $250,000 to $500,000, according to The Profile. A serious knee injury in 2020 forced him to miss most of that season and made the risks of professional football impossible to ignore.
His reported portfolio has included Anthropic, Anduril, Ramp, Cognition, Neuralink, Strike and Polymarket.
“When you sit out of football for a whole year, you realize that this game could be taken away from you,” said Barkley. The Philadelphia Eagles running back has put a large share of his football earnings into investments, from index funds and real estate to startups linked to artificial intelligence, fintech and emerging technology. His approach comes from a simple concern: an NFL career can end quickly, so he wants his money working long after his playing days are over. Barkley entered the NFL as the No. Rather than treating that first major payday as spending money, he chose to invest it and rely on endorsement income for his lifestyle. “When I declared for the NFL draft and kind of realized where I was going to be drafted, that was something I was like, ‘You know what? Kind of want to follow the Marshawn Lynch method. I don’t want to touch that. I want to invest it, put it in the right peoples’ hands and learn as I continue to make investments. That mindset later expanded into private companies. The motivation behind Barkley’s strategy is closely tied to the short shelf life of an NFL career.
Last year, Saquon Barkley offered a glimpse into a financial strategy that looks very different from the usual athlete spending story.