NFL icon reveals family’s role in going bankrupt with $44 in account despite $20m Super Bowl career

Bernie Kosar’s 12-year NFL career in which he won a Super Bowl ring was marred by money struggled in retirement.

Drafted by the Cleveland Browns first overall in the 1985 NFL Supplemental Draft, Kosar quickly became a beloved icon in Ohio.

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He led the Browns to four division titles and three AFC Championship game appearances in the late 1980s.

After nine seasons in Cleveland, he went on to earn a Super Bowl XXVIII ring as a backup quarterback with the Dallas Cowboys in 1993 before wrapping up his career with the Miami Dolphins in 1996, where things derailed.

In 2009, the news broke that Kosar had filed for a Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

This came as a surprise to many, given the fact he had earned roughly $20 million in his career with the Cleveland Browns, Miami Dolphins and Dallas Cowboys.

Kosar reported $9.2 million in assets and $18.9 million in debt, and had just $44 in his account.

At the time, he owed $1.5 million to the Browns, $3 million to his ex-wife, and more than $9 million to a bank because of failed real estate deals.

“Don’t have your uncle, your father, be your accountant,” Kosar said on the Sage Steele Show.

In his book, ‘Learning to Scramble’ which was published in 2017, he elaborated further on specific instances which ultimately led to his decision.

During his playing career, his father had taken money without his knowledge, including money spent on personal expenses.

Additionally, bad business deals managed by his father and brother caused major financial losses.

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A specific example he pointed to was when Kosar was exploring a five-percent ownership in the Browns.

During the meeting with then Browns owner Al Lerner, his father insulted him and accused him of using the QB to gain public support.

“Needless to say, after a brief, stunned silence, the meeting ended abruptly, and I lost whatever chance I had to participate in the new organization,” Kosar said.

Now facing serious health challenges, including Parkinson’s disease, Kosar regularly uses his experience to offer a simple warning to modern NFL players.

“I let my family, because we didn’t really have jobs and I just wanted to play football, I let them do the business stuff. I’m glad I did it,” Kosar wrote.

“I got massive experience from it. But play your sport and let professionals do that. Not all of them are great, but they’re more licensed and regulated than our family.

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“So if something goes wrong in your family, I don’t want to sue my dad. You see it a lot with the families. You see Lamar Jackson’s mother negotiating his contract.”