Odell Beckham Jr is back in the spotlight – not for a one-handed catch, but for a sobering money talk.
In a clip from The Pivot podcast that has gone viral, the three-time Pro Bowl receiver explains how a headline “five-year, $100 million” NFL deal quickly shrinks once taxes, expenses and real-life obligations hit, and questions whether fans understand how fragile that money can be over a lifetime.
According to clips from The Pivot circulating on social media, Odell Beckham Jr tells the hosts that when people hear about a five-year, $100 million contract, “it’s five years for $60 million” after tax, or roughly $12 million a year to “spend, use, save, invest [and] flaunt”.
He lists the obvious outlays – a car, a house for his mother – and then points out that spending $4 million a year over five seasons leaves about $8 million a year from that contract to last “forever”, challenging outsiders who insist that kind of money should automatically “last a lifetime”.
Odell Beckham Jr’s NFL money: the headline numbers
Drafted 12th overall by the New York Giants in 2014, Odell Beckham Jr entered the league on a standard four-year rookie deal worth just over $10 million.
His early production – more than 1,300 receiving yards in each of his first three seasons and that famous one-handed touchdown grab – set up his first huge payday.
In August 2018, the Giants signed Odell Beckham Jr to a five-year extension reportedly worth $90 million, including a $20 million signing bonus and $41 million guaranteed at signing.
At the time, it made him the highest-paid wide receiver in NFL history on an average of $18 million per year.
That contract did not run its full course.
New York traded him to the Cleveland Browns in 2019, and after injuries and a messy exit he moved onto a string of shorter, high-stakes deals: a one-year agreement with the Los Angeles Rams in 2021, a one-year deal with the Baltimore Ravens in 2023 reportedly worth at least $15 million and up to $18 million with incentives, and a one-year, $3 million guaranteed contract with the Miami Dolphins in 2024.
Across those contracts, databases such as Spotrac estimate that Odell Beckham Jr has earned just over $100 million in NFL salary and bonuses over his career – roughly the kind of headline figure he was unpacking on The Pivot.
The Nike deal and other Odell Beckham Jr endorsements
On top of his on-field earnings, Odell Beckham Jr has built a brand that attracted major sponsors at his peak with the Giants.
In 2017, he re-signed with Nike on what was widely reported as the richest shoe deal ever for an NFL player – around $5 million per year over five years, more than double his team salary at the time.
Reports and public profiles list partnerships with brands such as Head & Shoulders, Foot Locker, Lenovo and watchmaker Daniel Wellington, as well as fashion houses and gaming and lifestyle brands.
Together, those endorsements have added several million dollars to Odell Beckham Jr’s income, though they can fluctuate sharply as his on-field role changes and new faces enter the league.
He has also experimented with higher-risk ventures. In 2021, while with the Rams, Odell Beckham Jr took his $750,000 base salary in Bitcoin via a sponsorship with Cash App, accepting the crypto near its then-record high.
After a brutal slump and then a fresh rally, estimates suggest that if he held onto those coins, his position would now be worth more than the original dollar amount – but with major tax and volatility caveats attached.
Net worth headlines vs the reality he’s talking about
Recent estimates from financial and sports outlets put Odell Beckham Jr’s 2025 net worth at around $45 million, combining his football earnings, endorsement income and investments.
That is generational money by any normal standard – but the podcast moment lands because he is trying to explain how quickly headline figures can melt away once taxes, agents, lifestyle and extended family obligations are factored in.
For context, US federal and state income taxes can easily take 40% or more of a top-bracket athlete’s salary before they see a cent.
Layer in agent fees, training costs, insurance, property and travel, and the “real” income from a five-year peak-earning window starts to look a lot closer to the numbers Odell Beckham Jr sketched out.
Financial advisers who work with professional athletes often warn that careers can end without warning through injury or suspension, leaving players with 8–10 prime earning years to fund another 40 or 50 years of life.
