Ex-NFL Player Making $25 Million Quit Football At 29 To Become A Farmer To Donate To Food Pantries

September 23, 2016

In 2009, Jason Brown signed a five-year, $37.5 million contract with the St. Louis Rams that made him the highest-paid center in the NFL.

Five years later, after earning more than $25 million of that contract, Brown is a farmer who is helping to feed the hungry.

nfl player quits to become farmer and help the needy

CBS News caught up with Brown in Louisburg, North Carolina, where he runs a 1,000-acre farm after learning how to grow crops on YouTube.

At age 29, he still had plenty of NFL years ahead of him. But he walked away from the game.

"My agent, he told me, 'You're making the biggest mistake of your life,'" Brown told CBS. "And I looked right back at him and I said, 'No I am not.'"