9 NFL Players Turned Successful Entrepreneurs

9. Alex Bernstein (Estimated net worth: $2 million)

We are starting our list of NFL players turned successful entrepreneurs with Alex Bernstein who is a former NFL offensive lineman who played for four teams throughout his football career. He had brief stints with Baltimore Ravens, New York Jets, Cleveland Browns, and Atlanta Falcons. In 2000, he suffered an injury that ended his career. This setback turned out to be an opportunity as his early retirement allowed him to pursue entrepreneurship.

He shifted to software and technology industry in 2001. In 2005, he founded North Venture Partners, a software and technology incubator located in Oakland, California. They have since invested or launched 11 companies. The biggest of which is North Social, a Facebook design service that was sold for $25 million. Bernstein started the project InOak and bought three buildings in distressed areas in Oakland and turned them into incubator spaces.

8. Eddie George (Estimated net worth: $3 million)

Former running back Eddie George who ranks 8th on our list of NFL players turned successful entrepreneurs played for the Tennessee Titans/Houston Oilers for most of his NFL career and retired with the Dallas Cowboys. He played for Ohio State University in college and won the Heisman Trophy in 1995. The following year, he won NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year. He retired in 2005 but that didn’t stop him from pursuing success. In 2012, George earned his MBA from Kellogg School of Management.

He established the company EDGE Group, a planning and landscape architecture firm with offices in Nashville and Columbus, Ohio. George is a licensed landscape architect. This firm is part of the umbrella company George Enterprises, which also runs EGX Lifestyle, a company that provides products and tools for healthy living. He also founded the Visions With Infinite Possibilities, a nonprofit that supports victims of domestic violence.