Phillip Buchanon warns rookies not to let their families exploit them

As a first-round pick in the 2002 NFL draft, Phillip Buchanon signed a multimillion-dollar contract. And his mom decided that his payday should be her payday, too.

Buchanon has written a book detailing the mistakes he made as a young man whose mom demanded $1 million, which she said was payback for raising him. Now Buchanon has also agreed to speak at the annual NFL rookie symposium, where he’s encouraging rookies not to let their families exploit them, the way he did.

“When I got to the NFL, I was all dollars and no sense,” Buchanon writes on his blog. “I am here at the NFL Rookie Symposium to make sure that these NFL rookies don’t make the same mistakes that I did. I wish I had better mentors and I wish I had the right people around me. That would have impacted my career early on, no doubt.”

Buchanon says he’s encouraging rookies to invest their NFL money wisely so that it lasts the rest of their lives.

“I want them to make sure it’s permanent money. I don’t want them to blow it all, and next thing you know, it’s gone. Determine the difference between wants and needs for yourself and wants and needs from your family,” Buchanon writes.

The sad truth is, some of the rookies Buchanon is addressing at the symposium will make millions of dollars in the NFL and blow it all, often with large gifts to family members. But perhaps some will listen to Buchanon’s warning and save the money they make in their 20s so it will last until they’re in their 80s.