By and large, professional football players make obscene money. Whether they're members of a championship contender or perennial loser, star quarterback or second-string long-snapper, they all make way more loot than Average Joe. With that in mind — and with the Super Bowl right around the corner — it's time to take a look at what the salaries of a few Atlanta Falcons could buy around town. Spoiler alert: It's a lot.
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MATT RYAN
Ryan, the Falcons' (mostly) beloved QB, inked a six-year, $113.75 million contract in 2013. More than half of that — $59 million — was guaranteed money. We're not entirely sure where Ryan lives — some rumors say the Ritz-Carlton Residences, some say Sugarloaf Country Club in Gwinnett — but, regardless, he'd have plenty of dough to throw around (get it?) if he and wife Sarah did some intown shopping.
· Ryan's full contract could cover the $5.8 million that rapper Rick Ross plunked down for Evander Holyfield's palatial former Fayetteville crib — almost 20 times over.
· The full contract also could have funded nearly one-fifth of $600-million Avalon project in Alpharetta (not bad for one guy); the guaranteed money alone could nearly finance the Beltline's $60-million capital campaign; and his expected 2015 salary of $11.5 million would easily cover the facelift at Lenox Square.
· If the full deal were averaged out evenly over six seasons consisting of 16 games apiece (no playoffs, sorry guys), Ryan would get individual game checks of about $1.18 million. That means, in about 3.5 hours, the quarterback would haul in enough to pay cash for this four-bedroom, four-bathroom, 3,800 square-foot Peachtree Road condo (above). Yeah, 3.5 hours.
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JULIO JONES
Juuuuuuulio, the Falcons' oft-injured but awe-inspiring young wide-receiver, is destined for a major payday soon, but he's currently skimping by with his rookie contract — four years and just north of $16 million. At last check, he also lived OTP (in this massively tacky Buford manse), but the young man probably spends plenty of time in the city too.
· Jones' full contract could net him the seemingly still-for-sale Buckhead mansion of Big Poppa, the former love interest of "Real Housewives of Atlanta" star Kim Zolciak. With an original price of $25 million, Jones would be getting a steal at just $16 million — and, for irony's sake, he could invite teammate Kroy Biermann (Zolciak's current husband) to dinner parties.
· That evenly distributed game check explained above? Jones' would be just over $250,000, giving him enough clout to perhaps buy Momma this historic Downtown condo, a place to stay during game weekends.
· With just his $10.27 million signing bonus, Jones could rent all 259 flats at Ponce City Market for an entire year — even if each unit was of the high-end, $3,395 a month variety. Now that would be ballin'!
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PAUL WORRILOW
Worrilow, once an undrafted free agent from Delaware, earned his modest three-year $1.485 million contract by becoming a tackling machine on a terrible defense. His bank account is chump change compared to those of his more veteran teammates (and not far off from the league minimum), but he still has plenty of buying power.
· Presuming Worrilow is up for spending his whole contract, he could cop this 2,461 square-foot contemporary condo at Sovereign, Buckhead's tallest building. It comes with stellar views, perfect for a Falcons player looking to, you know, rise up.
· If he digs antiquity, Worrilow might splurge on this monstrous Victorian-style home in Midtown, built way back in 1891.
· Not exactly real estate in the strictest sense, but Worrilow's expected 2015 salary of $585,000 would be enough to buy exactly 13 of the priciest personal seat licenses at the new Falcons stadium, which are going for $45,000. Of course, he'd then have to figure out how to actually pay for the tickets.
— By Curbed Atlanta contributor Tyler Estep
* Salary information sourced via Rotoworld
[Ryan photo: nydailynews; Holyfield estate: GeorgiaMLS]