Since stepping away from football in 2021 after his final stint with the Carolina Panthers, Cam Newton has been navigating the difficult transition that many retired athletes face: adjusting to life without the steady income and spotlight of the NFL. Last year, he spoke candidly about the financial reality of life after fame and football.

In a January 2025 episode of Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test, the former Carolina Panthers star admitted that without his NFL paycheck, it has sometimes been hard to feel like “Superman” for his eight children.

“Being in the NFL, everyone knows there’s a large sum of money that comes to you in a short span of time and being away from the game for three years, those checks don’t come in the same. Like I got eight kids,” Newton said on the show.

The former Panthers’ QB made these comments while he was the father of eight, before welcoming his ninth child in late 2025. In May 2025, Jasmin Brown announced that she and Newton were expecting their second child together, which would make Newton a father of nine. A few months later, during an appearance on The Tamron Hall Show in October 2025, Newton revealed that their baby boy had already been born.

“It hurts me knowing that I can’t provide like I once did,” Newton added. “It hurts thinking that I’m Superman, but in reality, I’m just a man.”

For the record, Cam Newton shares four children with his former partner Kia Proctor, sons Chosen Sebastian, Camidas Swain and Cashmere Swaint, along with daughter Sovereign-Dior Cambella. He also helped raise Proctor’s eldest daughter, Shakira, according to People. Newton is also a father to son Caesar with LaReina Shaw and has played a parental role in raising Shaw’s older son, Jaden, from a previous relationship.

Newton has made roughly $133 million in total on-field salary over 11 NFL seasons. While he was one of the highest-paid players at his peak, his career earnings show a drastic decline due to injuries and age.

Unlike the common stereotype surrounding professional athletes and money, Newton handled his finances responsibly during his playing career and made smarter financial decisions. At least that’s something he admitted last year.

“I never really had a financial advisor, but I never really was a splurger either — still to this day,” the then 36-year-old said.

Even after federal and state taxes cut Newton’s earnings down to around $12 million per year, he said he still had enough left over to save and invest, with yearly expenses sitting between $5 million and $6 million.

But Newton believes many athletes make the mistake of forgetting that while their massive paychecks are temporary, the lifestyle that comes with them often isn’t. Now that he’s no longer earning eight figures annually, he admits his spending habits haven’t changed much. Costs like private school tuition, maintaining homes, alimony payments and luxury purchases have continued to put pressure on his finances.

But alongside his NFL money, Newton emerged as one of the more marketable superstars as he entered the league after signing the largest apparel and shoe deal ever given to an incoming rookie, CNBC reported, with Under Armour. Furthermore, he has endorsement deals with Gatorade and Beats by Dre, taking his estimated net worth to roughly $50–$75 million as per February 2026 data.

Despite these massive sums of money, life became challenging for Cam Newton, highlighting how NFL players are as human as anyone else. However, the 2015 NFL MVP isn’t the only superstar to open up about his financial struggles.

Odell Beckham Jr. is also facing same financial struggles as Cam Newton

Sports Illustrated revealed that 80% of retired NFL players go broke in their first three years out of the League, in a 2016 report. Highlighting these problems, star wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. opened up about how NFL players fall into these financial issues.

“I’ve always explained this to people, bro; you give somebody a five-year, $100 million contract—what is it really?” OBJ said on the Pivot podcast in December 2025. “It’s five years for 60 (million). You’re getting taxed. Do the math; that’s 12 a year that you have to spend, use, save, invest, flaunt, whatever. I’m gonna buy a car; I’m gonna give my momma a house. Everything costs money. So, if you’re spending $4 million a year, that’s really $40 million over five years, or $8 million a year.

“Now, you start breaking down the numbers, and it’s like that’s five years of where you’re getting $8 million. 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.’ Yeah, this job I sacrificed my whole life for, they are giving me that. I didn’t ask for a certain dollar amount or whatever. But we weren’t taught any financial literacy … We weren’t taught this skill,” he continued.

After being drafted in 2014, Beckham’s second contract with the Giants was around $90 million over five years. He was then traded to the Cleveland Browns, followed by short-term deals with the Los Angeles Rams ($4.25 million), the Baltimore Ravens ($15 million), and the Miami Dolphins ($3 million).

The stories of Cam Newton and Odell Beckham Jr. prove that a big NFL salary means little without financial literacy. Until players are better equipped to manage their wealth, these cautionary tales will keep repeating themselves.

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