The NFL is so popular, even when no team is playing, it can attract 12.1 million viewers.
That’s what happened last year during the NFL Draft, when each team picks college players to join their roster. By comparison, the average viewership for the 2024 NBA Finals was 11.3 million.
Still, there are 340 million people in this country, so it’s safe to say a lot of them don’t care about sports, but they can still learn from them, especially the NFL Draft. These are lessons I’ve been teaching since I arrived at Debt.com over a decade ago – lessons I first learned during my NFL career.
1. Give yourself a salary cap
In 1994, the NFL instituted a salary cap. That meant each team could only spend so much money on player contracts. Before 1994, teams could spend whatever they could afford – and often more than they could afford.
For the 2025 season, each of the NFL’s 30 teams can spend up to $279.2 million. That’s up $23.8 million from last year. How does the NFL decide on the salary cap? In a word, budgeting.
NFL teams learned that it’s dangerous to spend without a plan. So now they budget to fit underneath the salary cap. They have no choice. You do. While Debt.com’s research shows 9 in 10 Americans have a monthly budget, it’s unclear how rigorously they stick to it. Only a few months earlier, another Debt.com survey showed more than a quarter said “they previously took on at least $5,000 in debt for summer travel.”
A budget doesn’t help much if you don’t live by it. Be like your favorite NFL team and consider your budget to be a salary cap.
2. Plan for emergencies
Football is a rough game. Injuries are common. So, if anyone thinks about emergency planning, it’s an NFL player. While NFL players have team doctors looking after them, plus health insurance provided by their collective bargaining agreement, they realize every play could be their last for that game, that season, or even their career.
Emergency planning is crucial for everyone, regardless of your profession. While you might not be at risk of tearing an ACL at work, life is unpredictable. At Debt.com, I’ve met people who have been forced into debt because of an illness, layoff, accident, or natural disaster.
They were doing fine financially until disaster struck – because they didn’t have an emergency fund. Set one up today.
3. Ask for professional help
You might think every NFL player is a multimillionaire who will never run out of money. The truth is, the current minimum salary is $705,000, and the average player’s career only lasts three full seasons. While that’s a lot of money, it sadly isn’t enough to last you the rest of your life.
Of course, many players are only in their early 20s when they get drafted. When I was that age, I wasn’t thinking beyond the next day. The NFL knows this, so it offers financial education to its players. The league also has Former Player Chapters – and as president of the South Florida chapter, I counsel players and former players about their finances.
You don’t need to play in the NFL to get an All-Pro financial education. Debt.com offers you that every day, both on its website and on the phone. You can call Debt.com and speak to a professional debt counselor. You’ll get a free, in-depth, no-obligation analysis of where you stand financially.
If you’re in debt and just can’t get out, Debt.com has proven programs to help you. I’m biased, but I’d like to think we’re the Super Bowl champs of debt relief.
Don Silvestri is president of Debt.com and played several seasons in the NFL with the Jets, Bills and Seahawks as a kicker/punter.
