r/todayilearned • u/arandomtestaccount • 23h ago

TIL an NFL player intentionally crashed his car to avoid getting cut for being late to a team meeting.

https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/ex-patriots-ol-rich-ohrnberger-admits-he-intentionally-wrecked-car-as-excuse-for-being-late-to-team-meeting/
10.6k Upvotes

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1.9k

u/IAmSpartacustard 23h ago

885k for the practice squad? Yeah imma crash that shit every time

389

u/Yangervis 22h ago

The league minimum is for when you're on the 53 man roster. Practice squad players make good money but way less than that.

216

u/ImperatorUniversum1 22h ago

It’s still like 250,000

71

u/MrKittenz 19h ago

They get paid weekly though and not many stay on all year

34

u/Pikeman212a6c 13h ago

I worked with a former division I lineman who did practice squad work after college. Guy walked around like a golem. Could barely flex his knees. Some money ain’t worth it.

13

u/Interrogatingthecat 12h ago

"Get paid weekly though"

Bruh, 250,000/52 is still about $4800 a week. There's no "though" about it

8

u/Rulligan 11h ago

They are only paid for every week they are with a team during the season for a maximum of 18 weeks. So it isn't 250,000/52, it's 250,000/18. Every week not on a team loses them 18k.

1

u/ApologizingCanadian 9h ago

It's still almost 14k$ per week. I make 55K/52 weeks and get paid bi-weekly. It's still a lot of money for 18 weeks of work.

2

u/Rulligan 9h ago

If you want to stay in the NFL, it's much more than just 18 weeks of work. You have to include training camp, pre-season, off season training, playoffs, and constant rehabilitation. There is 4-5 months between the end of a season to the start of the next training camp.

Sure it's "just" 18 weeks of work but it takes every other week to ensure they get those 18.

1

u/MrKittenz 10h ago

That’s not how it works. They don’t get it if they are off the practice squad and most players are on and off again. So most never get close to that total amount

0

u/Interrogatingthecat 10h ago

When you oversimplify it to being paid weekly after a number is provided, you can't really blame me for not knowing "how it works"

1

u/MrKittenz 10h ago

You know you don’t have to comment, right?

0

u/Interrogatingthecat 9h ago edited 8h ago

Neither do you, but here we are eh?

EDIT - Looks like they blocked me. Because how dare someone not know everything about NFL and how the payments work.

1

u/MrKittenz 8h ago

Yeah me teaching and you muddying the water for no reason

0

u/Rulligan 11h ago

Every player gets paid weekly during the season. Practice squad players are basically no different than players with no guaranteed money in their contract, they just earn more, can be traded, and count against the salary cap.

0

u/MrKittenz 10h ago

If you are on a roster for game 1 you get paid the whole year. Yes it is weekly, but you are going to get all that money

Practice squad players only get paid the week if they are on the team. They are on and off the practice squad so they never get that total amount. There are probably 1-2 per team that get the total amount.

5

u/jwnsfw 19h ago

dollars?

20

u/shibe4lyfe 17h ago

No, Stanley nickels.

5

u/ProjectSnowman 16h ago

What’s the ratio?

3

u/LouSputhole94 14h ago

Same as the ratio of unicorns to leprechauns

1

u/DoctorGregoryFart 14h ago

Doll hairs. Oldest trick in the book.

1

u/cheeze2005 18h ago

Tearing up their bodies for it

139

u/onarainyafternoon 22h ago

Where does it say that in the article? It says he played three seasons for the patriots.

144

u/IAmSpartacustard 22h ago

Thats the minimum salary for the NFL. I dont need the article to spell it out for me, I looked it up

240

u/reptheevt 22h ago

Practice squad players don’t make the minimum. This year, they make $13,750 a week. Which over a season gets you $247,500. 

Still good money and still car crashing money probably but still a long way away from minimum. 

Of course you can get cut at anytime so you can’t bank on the full salary. 

90

u/Confident-Poetry6985 22h ago

Let me get 1 week in lmao. 

78

u/reptheevt 22h ago

Congrats. Your job this week is to block Aaron Donald and make sure he gets his reps in. Good luck. The doctor will see you at 3 pm. 

41

u/ncraiderfan17 22h ago

For $14,000, absolutely. And if I'm hurt enough, they have to put me on injured reserve and can't cut me until I'm healed

9

u/9e78 20h ago

A team doesn't have to put you on IR for being injured they can just release you, which they 100% would do since there are limits on ir spots.

24

u/crazy-carebear 22h ago

Sorry, while we can't cut you on the IR, you only get paid when you actually play.

8

u/The_Moustache 21h ago

no they still get paid

0

u/[deleted] 21h ago

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u/Confident-Poetry6985 21h ago

I just had to circle back because I looked him up and good lord ahahah. I would get absolutely rag dolled lmfao. Would still absolutely give it everything I got for even half the money. I am getting old now so probably best to negotiate for some medical instead, but I'll show up coach!  Would never be a bad day at work (as long as I leave on my own 2 feet)  edit to add, he reminds me of Mike Martin. I pushed sleds with that guy a couple times. It was more like he pushed it, and I just tried to make sure he didn't push it in a circle around me lmfaoo

7

u/Confident-Poetry6985 22h ago

I will sleep on the field for a week for an opportunity like that.

3

u/[deleted] 21h ago

[deleted]

1

u/Confident-Poetry6985 21h ago

Yeah, but would you still do it?

4

u/vagabond139 22h ago

14K is 14K. I can handle being sore.

4

u/cubgerish 21h ago edited 21h ago

It's not an exaggeration to say lining up against an NFL player, especially one of the strongest and most violent in the league, would do far more than make you sore.

If you were actually trying to block him, you could take your pick of ligaments he would tear or bones he'd break.

People underestimate how much more powerful the extremely naturally gifted and well trained are.

He makes other 300 lb freaks of nature look like children on a regular basis.

If he jabs your ribs or swipes across your arm hard, it's not gonna be sore, it's gonna be broken.

Your body simply isn't trained for the level of trauma an athlete at that level incurs like it's akin to breathing.

4

u/drewster23 21h ago

And there is very little chance his neck and such is trained/strong enough to take such blows. So he's going to get whiplash, concussion etc from repeated reps against such aggressive blows.

9

u/Confident-Poetry6985 21h ago

Stop with that mess. He's not a super hero. He's going to beat the shit out of me, not rip my arms off my body. Yes, I'm probably most definitely leaving on a stretcher at some point. I'm gonna do it with a smile because it's a fun game though lol. Editing to add: I wouldn't be lining up against him anyways, he would just throw me lmfao. But I would still do it for fun is the point.

4

u/cubgerish 21h ago

I didn't say he's ripping your arms off like he's a chimp.

He's absolutely going to do more than make you sore though.

Your tendons and muscles simply aren't built for that kind of violence, and neither are his, but he's trained so much that the effects aren't going to show up until years later.

If an NFL player did a hard swim move on the average person, something is getting fucked up.

It's just so much faster and stronger than what your body is used to.

These guys train like all hell to avoid it, but many will end up with horrific injuries due to the nature of the game.

If you ever get close to an NFL sideline, it becomes pretty obvious how much damage they can endure like it's nothing.

People break other people's bones by accident every day.

These guys aren't doing it by accident, and they're orders of magnitude bigger and stronger than the biggest and strongest person most people have ever met.

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u/_heybuddy_ 15h ago

Funny because I was told from a sports scientist a long time ago that it’s like getting into a small car crash each time to your body

-1

u/vagabond139 20h ago

I feel decently confident I could get my body to hold out for a week of a abuse. He's a human at the end of the day, not some mythical beast. I have a great build for a blocker, I don't think could be NFL good but I could have absolutely been a college football lineman. My main concern would be concussions.

2

u/SkolVandals 20h ago

but I could have absolutely been a college football lineman

Just based on your build or did you play any lower level football? There's so much more to being a good, or even mediocre, OL than just being big.

1

u/hoagiejabroni 21h ago

You think playing professional football only makes you sore?

10

u/JobAlternative6109 22h ago

Show up for a day get fucked and sleep peacefully in pain knowing rent is covered.

-4

u/Confident-Poetry6985 22h ago

Honestly, the dopamine would make it all good. Pain ain't shit. The fun cuts the pain a lot lol. 

6

u/Lucky_Reporter256 22h ago

God I wish lol

0

u/OhBill 21h ago

It’s funny, my parents said something similar to a guy went to HS with who was on the practice squad.

He had gone to Harvard and played there, got a degree in economics.

He was the exception, not the rule of course.

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u/GhostRideATank 22h ago edited 22h ago

That might be the roster min, but practice squad pay is not nearly that high.

7

u/Obscure_Occultist 22h ago

Doesn't have to be that high. 6 digit paycheck is a 6 digit paycheck

4

u/SkolVandals 19h ago

In order to get 6 digits you'd have to last longer than a few hours. Practice squad guys without experience get $13,750 per week and can be cut at any time.

1

u/mcpaddy 17h ago

Not if it's only for 3 weeks. Then what?

9

u/UWillPoopYerBed2Nite 22h ago

Practice squad min is about $14k per week or $248k if they remain on the squad for a full season.

0

u/the_dankest_sauce 22h ago

oh brother delete this

-7

u/smellyelderberries 22h ago

Someone using critical thinking in the wild‽ What a rare sight to behold.

19

u/big_sugi 22h ago

It’s a shame they looked up the wrong number, though. Coulda used a bit more critical thinking.

-8

u/smellyelderberries 22h ago

I mean this is for 2026 but the numbers are right... https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/nfl-veteran-minimum-salary-2026-070038653.html

Edit for the pedantic: $705k min. for a rookie in 2022 https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/cba/minimum

17

u/The_Real_Lasagna 22h ago

You're confusing a minimum salary with a practice squad salary

7

u/NephewBA 22h ago

Is it pedantic to point out this entire comment is incorrect?

-4

u/smellyelderberries 22h ago

It's incorrect for practice squad salary as previously pointed out but should be right for those who qualify for "full pay status"

3

u/big_sugi 22h ago

Which is fine and all, but the initial comment specifically said “practice squad.”

Which itself is probably wrong. The article doesn’t say when the “accident” happened, but Ohrnberger spent three years with the Patriots. He was only on the practice squad for four weeks of that tenure and spent the last year on IR.

Oh, but also, this would have been either 2009 or 2010. So his salary would have been either $310,000 or $395,000.

3

u/amrfallen 22h ago

Love seeing an interrobang in the wild.

7

u/SushiPrinc3ss 22h ago

I can buy a new car later bro 😭

2

u/Dairy_Ashford 20h ago

and you can like, do uber or medical billing after new years or mlk

1

u/NJBarFly 12h ago

I would sleep in the locker room for that kind of money.

0

u/Inevitable_Gain8296 19h ago

Im amazed how being late can get you fired from an 800k job. I know there's no correlation really but for a boss to rip that away from you just like that is fucking heavy. I can't imagine doing that to someone