Rams first-round draft pick Tavon Austin is glad to be in the NFL, but he’s already realizing one down side: The requests for cash never stop.
Austin hasn’t actually received an NFL paycheck yet, but the mere fact that he’s a high pick who will be guaranteed millions on his rookie contract has people with their hands out.
“Everybody expects a lot of things from you as far as money,” Austin told the Rams’ website. “Everybody wants to be around you. My phone doesn’t stop ringing now. It feels like they’re counting my bank account now. So that’s probably the hardest thing for me right now, just people.”
With his newfound wealth, Austin says people in his hometown of Baltimore are coming out of the woodwork acting like family.
“I’ve got a lot of cousins now,” Austin said. “The whole [city of] Baltimore is my cousin now. We’re going to just try to keep focused and let my mother and all of them handle it.”
Here’s hoping Austin and his mom don’t hesitate to say “no” to the people who think that because Austin made it big, they deserve to benefit, too. Placating those people is how a lot of NFL players go broke.
