Torrey Smith packed a lot of moments into his eight-year NFL career, but one experience from his rookie year still doesn’t sit well.
On Tuesday, Smith expressed his opinion on the NFL tradition of rookie dinners, which involve veterans forcing first-year players to spend exorbitant sums of money on a meal for their older teammates.
Smith abhors the practice, which he says he was thankfully able to avoid with the Baltimore Ravens in 2011 thanks to the protection of fellow wideout Anquan Boldin.
“Rookie dinners are BS! I’m glad I had an OG that realized teaching me to blow money is STUPID!” Smith said. “It does not prove you belong on a team. Shout out to @AnquanBoldin ! Dudes come into the league with no financial literacy and real problems but folks think 50k dinners are cool! NAH!”
Smith’s $50,000 estimate might be a bit conservative in some cases. Jets wide receiver Garrett Wilson was stunned to find out recently that his rookie dinner for New York’s veteran wideouts might run him $75,000 or more.
Of course, these rookies can afford that costly bill now, but Smith makes a decent point that it’s probably not the best way to christen new players into the league.
Financial literacy and being smart with your money is an essential part of being a professional athlete, so maybe it is time to rethink, or modify, the rookie dinner tradition.
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