NFL rookies can now ‘retire’ from yard, food-service gigs - Ingles

Here’s the downside to the four-month NFL lockout ending this week: Tom Brady is no longer available to mow your lawn.
OK, it likely wouldn’t have been the Patriots star quarterback working on a landscaping crew. But the owners’ freeze on paychecks meant that some of the league’s top college draft picks were scrambling to pay their bills and “forced” to take odd jobs this summer.

Bills rookie defensive lineman Marcell Dareus, the third overall pick in the NFL draft, was dubbed the “only landscaper in Birmingham, Alabama with his own trading card” by CNN. He spent the past few weeks maintaining suburban lawns with his godfather’s ride-on John Deere tractor.

Colts offensive lineman Mike Tepper completed a 75-hour whitewater rafting training course in Colorado to become a river guide. His boss told a local news crew that he didn’t give preferential treatment to employees with NFL experience and that Tepper “was knee-deep in Pine-Sol and water, washing the life vests and booties” like everyone else.

Perhaps reflecting our own Schadenfreude — that secret happiness we derive when people more successful than us stumble — the media giddily reported these kind of stories throughout the lockout.

Dolphins tight end Charles Clay was mowing the grass around Oklahoma oil wells, Bills cornerback Aaron Williams was fixing barbed-wire fences, and Colts offensive tackle Anthony Castonzo (the 2010 Boston College team captain) was delivering food for his family’s gourmet Italian restaurant outside of Chicago.

Reached by phone at Oregano’s Corner Cafe & Catering yesterday, Shari Castonzo said she welcomed the lockout’s silver lining of seeing her youngest son return to a nostalgic role.

“Anthony’s been working here since he was 16. Whenever he comes home, he does whatever we ask. For me, it was great having him here. But he’s been very anxious to get back in the swing of things,” she said.

The Colts rookie’s wallet must have been getting anxious, too. Drivers at Oregano’s make most of their income from tips.

The new NFL deal means that top draft picks will be making less today than they did last year — Panthers quarterback Cam Newton is expected to earn “only” $36 million over five years, while his predecessor Sam Bradford got $78 million over six years with the Rams.

But even the rookie minimum wage serfs will be clearing $375,000 this season. That’s 10-20 years of landscaping, depending on how generous your boss is.

So now it’s time to resolve the NBA’s work stoppage, but how cool would it be to order pizza and see one of the future Celtics ringing your doorbell? (source Boston Herald)