{"id":864861,"date":"2026-08-20T10:10:32","date_gmt":"2026-08-20T10:10:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/864861\/"},"modified":"2026-08-20T10:10:32","modified_gmt":"2026-08-20T10:10:32","slug":"after-retiring-from-the-nfl-warrick-dunn-bought-into-the-falcons-when-the-team-was-worth-1-billion-that-bet-has-paid-off-spectacularly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/864861\/","title":{"rendered":"After Retiring From The NFL, Warrick Dunn Bought Into The Falcons When The Team Was Worth $1 Billion. That Bet Has Paid Off Spectacularly"},"content":{"rendered":"

During his 12-year NFL career, Warrick Dunn<\/a> was a three-time Pro Bowler, the 1997 NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year, and one of the most productive running backs of his generation. He rushed for 10,967 yards, added another 4,339 yards as a receiver, scored 64 total touchdowns, and retired with more than 15,000 yards from scrimmage.<\/p>\n

For his efforts on the field, Warrick earned $36 million in salary. But his financial moves off the field and after retiring are even more impressive.<\/p>\n

In December 2009, Falcons owner Arthur Blank<\/a> announced that Dunn had agreed to purchase a minority ownership interest in the franchise. The NFL’s owners unanimously approved the transaction, and Dunn became a limited partner the following year.<\/p>\n

The exact amount Dunn invested and the percentage of the team he received have never been publicly disclosed, but multiple reports have placed Dunn’s investment at around $9 million. That would equate to a roughly 1% stake. However big his stake is, Warrick’s timing was incredible.<\/p>\n

In 2009, the Atlanta Falcons were worth $850 million. Today, the franchise is now worth $10 billion. Very roughly, if he indeed owns a 1% stake, today it’s worth $100 million. If he owns a half-percent stake, it’s worth $50 million. That’s $14 million more than he earned actually playing football.<\/p>\n

If that were the entire story, it would already make for a great post-NFL financial success story. But the more you learn about Warrick Dunn, the more his Falcons investment starts to feel like only one chapter in a much more impressive life.<\/p>\n

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Getty Images<\/p>\n

A Tragedy That Changed Everything<\/p>\n

Dunn grew up in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, the oldest of six children raised by his mother, Betty Smothers. Betty was a Baton Rouge police officer and a single mother who dreamed of one day owning a home for her family.<\/p>\n

She never got the chance. On January 7, 1993, Betty was working an off-duty security assignment, escorting a grocery store manager to make a bank deposit, when she was ambushed and murdered. She was 36 years old, and Warrick was two days shy of his 18th birthday.<\/p>\n

Dunn suddenly found himself helping care for five younger siblings while still finishing high school. He later used money from his mother’s life insurance policy to purchase a home for the family, effectively fulfilling the goal his mother had spent years working toward.<\/p>\n

Months later, Dunn enrolled at Florida State University. As a freshman, he helped the Seminoles win the 1993 national championship, and over the next four seasons, he became one of the greatest running backs in school history. He finished his college career with 3,959 rushing yards and earned first-team All-American honors as a senior.<\/p>\n

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers selected Dunn with the 12th overall pick in the 1997 NFL Draft. His rookie contract was worth roughly $8.86 million, including a $3.5 million signing bonus. Almost immediately after receiving his first substantial NFL paycheck, Dunn began using part of his new wealth to help other families achieve something his mother had always wanted.<\/p>\n

Homes For The Holidays<\/p>\n

During his rookie season, Dunn launched Homes for the Holidays. The idea was rooted directly in his own childhood: His mother had desperately wanted the safety and stability of homeownership, so Dunn decided to help other single parents achieve that same goal.<\/p>\n

Homes for the Holidays does not simply hand out free houses. The program works with single-parent families who have already gone through an affordable-housing program and qualified to become homeowners. Warrick Dunn Charities then helps with costs such as the down payment and surprises families by furnishing the property, stocking the kitchen, and providing many of the basic necessities required to turn an empty house into a home. The organization describes the philosophy as offering families a “hand-up” rather than simply a handout.<\/p>\n

Dunn started the program in 1997 and never stopped. In January 2026, Warrick Dunn Charities celebrated its 250th Homes for the Holidays presentation, nearly three decades after its creation. The organization has since pushed beyond that milestone, helping families in communities across more than a dozen states.<\/p>\n

Consider how long that commitment has lasted. Dunn began helping single parents become homeowners when Bill Clinton was president, “Titanic” was in theaters, and Dunn himself was a 22-year-old rookie trying to establish himself in the NFL. Almost 30 years later, the program is still operating.<\/p>\n

One Of Those Kids Became An NFL Superstar<\/p>\n

One of the most remarkable stories to come out of Homes for the Holidays occurred in 2006. A single mother named Deann Watson qualified for a Habitat for Humanity home in Gainesville, Georgia. When the Watson family arrived at the house, Dunn and his organization had furnished it and stocked it with everything the family needed.<\/p>\n

Deann’s 11-year-old son was named Deshaun Watson.<\/p>\n

Years before Deshaun Watson<\/a> became a national champion quarterback at Clemson and later an NFL star, he was one of the children whose family benefited from Dunn’s program. Watson’s later football success obviously had nothing to do with Dunn, and his adult career has included its own major controversies, but his family has spoken about what the house meant at the time. It provided security, space, and stability during an important period of his childhood.<\/p>\n

That was exactly what Dunn had intended the program to provide.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, He Was Having An Excellent NFL Career<\/p>\n

Dunn wasn’t doing all of this after accumulating a fortune and retiring with unlimited free time. Homes for the Holidays grew while he was still taking hits every Sunday as an NFL running back.<\/p>\n

He was named NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year in 1997 and made the Pro Bowl immediately. After five seasons in Tampa Bay, Dunn entered free agency and signed a six-year, $28.5 million contract with Atlanta that included a $6.5 million signing bonus.<\/p>\n

With the Falcons, Dunn played alongside Michael Vick<\/a> and became part of one of the league’s most dangerous rushing attacks. Dunn rushed for a career-high 1,416 yards in 2005. The following season, Dunn and Vick became the first running back-quarterback combination in NFL history to each rush for more than 1,000 yards in the same season.<\/p>\n

Dunn ultimately finished his career with 10,967 rushing yards and 4,339 receiving yards, giving him more than 15,000 yards from scrimmage. Throughout that entire run, his charitable work continued expanding.<\/p>\n

For his accomplishments both on the field and in the community, Dunn received the Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year Award for the 2004 season, one of the most prestigious honors an NFL player can receive. Dunn later said the Walter Payton award meant more to him than an Offensive Player of the Year award or even an MVP would have.<\/p>\n

From Falcons Player To Falcons Owner<\/p>\n

Dunn played his final NFL season in 2008, retiring after earning roughly $36 million in salary and bonuses over the course of his career. By then, however, he had developed an interest in a very different side of professional football.<\/p>\n

While playing for Atlanta, Dunn began asking Arthur Blank and other Falcons executives about the business behind the team. He wanted to understand marketing, finance, management, and the decisions being made above the football operations level. Eventually, he began wondering what it would be like to actually own part of a professional sports franchise.<\/p>\n

After Dunn retired, Blank gave him the opportunity to find out. Dunn consulted with his financial advisers, went through the NFL’s approval process, and became a limited partner in the Falcons.<\/p>\n

Dunn has acknowledged that some of the terminology and financial concepts discussed in ownership meetings initially went over his head. Rather than accept that knowledge gap, he went back to school and earned an MBA from Emory University.<\/p>\n

Today, Dunn brings something exceedingly rare to an NFL ownership group. He has experienced the league as a college prospect, first-round draft pick, star player, free agent, highly paid veteran, retiree, and now owner.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"During his 12-year NFL career, Warrick Dunn was a three-time Pro Bowler, the 1997 NFL Offensive Rookie of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":864862,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[436],"tags":[167297,1766,300620,49,48,300621,514,300622,300623,300624,82,300625,300626,300627],"class_list":["post-864861","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-arthur-blank","tag-atlanta-falcons","tag-atlanta-falcons-valuation","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-homes-for-the-holidays","tag-nfl","tag-nfl-career-earnings","tag-nfl-investments","tag-nfl-ownership","tag-sports","tag-warrick-dunn","tag-warrick-dunn-charity","tag-warrick-dunn-net-worth"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/864861","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=864861"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/864861\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/864862"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=864861"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=864861"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=864861"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}