The Athlete CEO: How NFL Players Build and Realize Their Worth

Riccardo Stewart joins Zach “The Truth” Miller, Sam “The Mayor” Acho, and Jeff “The Professor” Locke to draw up the playbook behind becoming the CEO of your own career as an NFL player. With Brock Purdy’s path—from Arizona high school standout, to last pick in the draft, to signing a $265 million extension—as the backdrop, the team unpacks what really drives value for pro athletes: performance, preparation, grit through setbacks, and knowing exactly who belongs in your circle. The conversation lays bare how discipline on and off the field, combined with relentless self-belief, is the foundation for maximizing long-term value and setting up a winning legacy.

Key Highlights:

• Why every athlete needs to run the business of themselves—not just play in the business of the NFL.

• Brock Purdy’s journey: overlooked and underestimated, but methodically building value through adversity, belief, and execution.

• The power of intellectual capital: seeing the whole field, staying prepared, and making the right decisions when the pressure’s highest.

• Grit forged in recovery and rejection: how setbacks and unseen effort fuel future contracts.

• How contract structure impacts long-term value: rookie wage scale, forms of guaranteed money, skill cap, injury clauses, timing, and the true meaning of “extension.”

• Why maximizing value means keeping your circle small and choosing partners carefully both on and off the field.

References:

• Brock Purdy contract extension: https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/45167784/san-francisco-brock-purdy-new-contract-extension-mr-irrelevant-big-expectations

• Shark Tank (ABC), as a metaphor for realizing value and investment: https://abc.com/show/535e2b07-18a9-4d94-9803-9ed8257b9d23

• Text in your questions: 602-989-5022