As the 134th overall pick in the 2018 NFL draft, Cardinals running back Chase Edmonds got a $452,359 signing bonus. He already knows what he’ll do with $80,000 of that: Pay off his sister’s student loans.
Edmonds hatched a plan when he was 10 years old for how he was going to help out his family: First by getting a football scholarship, then by paying off his older sister Morgan’s schooling when he got his NFL contract.
“I love my big sister. That’s just the least I can do for her,” Edmonds told ESPN. “When you’re on full scholarship you don’t realize these bills. These things add up. When my mom told me Morgan’s debt at the time, I said, ‘Wow. If I ever can make it to the NFL that’s something that I would love to do, just to surprise her and pay that off for her so she can really live free and do whatever she wants with her money.’”
Morgan has $80,000 in student loan debt from college and graduate school, which is a mountain of money to their family and to most families, but is something Edmonds can now afford to pay off. Morgan was surprised to learn her little brother considered her debt to be his top priority.
“I didn’t realize my student loans were on his radar,” Morgan said. “It’s not something I talk about. It’s not something I complain about. It’s just a reality of going to grad school, unfortunately. I wasn’t surprised, but I was just like . . . I guess I was surprised.”
Some rookies get their signing bonus checks and immediately buy jewelry or cars. That Edmonds had something else in mind shows that the Cardinals drafted a player of high character.
