Patriots quarterback Drake Maye was a 2024 first round, third overall NFL draft pick with a reported $36.6 million contract—but you likely wouldn’t be able to tell it from the car he drives.
The 23-year-old still drives a 2015 GMC pickup truck that served him in high school growing up in the suburbs of Charlotte, N.C. The truck broke down off of Interstate 95 in January 2025, but the burgeoning football star refused to part with the vehicle—even at the behest of his high school football coach, The Washington Post reported.
“My mom’s always been on me about just staying humble and not buying the sports car,” Maye told The Washington Post in November 2025. “But it is tempting.”
On Sunday, Maye will play on the NFL’s largest stage at the 60th Super Bowl, where, even if he loses, he will be guaranteed a six-figure bonus—ample cash to pay for a new car. He’s the second- youngest quarterback ever to start the big game (and effectively the replacement of Patriots legend Tom Brady). If he won, would become the youngest in his position to take home the Lombardi trophy.
Maye came from an athletic family and as a freshman in high school, transferred to Myers Park High School, where he threw more than 3,200 passing yards as a sophomore and 3,512 passing yards as a junior—including 50 touchdowns and just two interceptions with a 72% completion rate. He played college football at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and won the 2022 ACC Player of the Year award.
Despite his meteoric rise, Maye’s decision to drive a decade-old truck is reflective of the behaviors of a cadre of professional athletes and NFL veterans who have remained prudent with their earnings, even as their net worths skyrocket. Maye has an estimated $12 million net worth as of February.
The rapid rise of athletes, particularly in an era of ballooning name, image, and likeness deals, has put financial literacy at the center of professional sports. By one estimation, 78% of NFL players experience bankruptcy of financial stress just two years after retirement. Many athletes are speaking out about the growing need for financial literacy. Others are taking steps to ensure the salaries from their careers on the field last them the entirety of their retirement.
Odell Beckham Jr., an NFL wide receiver who won the 2021 Super Bowl with the Los Angeles Rams, said after taxes and everyday expenses, even a multi-million payday can feel smaller than contracts can suggest. Beckham did not play in the 2025 season.
“Can you make that last forever? And you always hear the people who ain’t us and ain’t be in the position, like, ‘Oh, that would last a lifetime,’” Beckham said on an episode of The Pivot Podcast in October 2025. “Yeah, this job I sacrificed my whole life for, they are giving me that. I didn’t ask for the certain dollar amount or whatever. But we weren’t taught about no financial literacy…We weren’t taught this skill.”
Playing frugal football
Like Maye, a handful of former and current NFL players have never ditched frugal habits.
Former Houston Texans safety Glover Quin continued to drive the GMC Yukon Denali he bought in 2009 throughout his NFL career, and spent only 30% of this paycheck, investing the remaining 70% during the first three years of his career. He and his family lived on about $6,000 per month, or $72,000 annually.
Former Washington linebacker Ryan Kerrigan signed a five-year, $57.5 million deal in 2015, but found a roommate in his childhood friend Andrew Walker, The Wall Street Journal reported in 2016 before he got married in 2018.
“He makes most of his own meals,” Walker told the outlet of Kerrigan at the time. “But, when he does splurge, he’s going to Chipotle.”
Even after NFL legend Rob Gronkowski took the advice of his contractor in 2014 to buy Apple stock, the former Patriots tight-end—once one of the highest paid in the league—lived on endorsement money and would refuse to part with his wardrobe items.
“My ‘broke habit’ still is my clothing and shoes,” Gronkowski said in a 2018 episode of the Kneading Dough podcast. “If I like the clothing, if I like the shoes, I’ll wear those shoes and I’ll wear that clothing down to the rags.”
