For those of you who aren’t familiar with Tatum, here’s a quick and dirty rundown. The Detroit Lions fired Tatum because they signed Rudi Johnson, so as an act of revenge (or desperation), Tatum decides to steal Rudi’s bags on his way out of the building. Tatum first tried to play it off as a practical joke, but security cameras and other people he tried to involve debunked his story. Therefore this left Tatum without a job and teams who may have been interested steered clear because he was now known as a locker room thief.

These circumstances led Tatum to pursue a new line of employment….. working as the manger of a cell phone store.

“”I had a job at the mall, man, just supporting my family, doing what I could do,” Bell said, adding the experience helped him become a better man. “I think it helped me mature and respect the real world. Now, I’ve really got a lot more respect for people that work 9-to-5.”

I know some of you may think Tatum did this to keep himself busy or stay grounded…. but the part of his quote that mentions “supporting my family’” makes me think he actually needed the money.

Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing wrong with earning a living in retail, but if you’ve been playing professional football for three and a half years you should have a little money to hold you over right? Was he so broke that he IMMEDIATELY needed to start filling out apps at the mall? I know rookie contracts can be small but jesus h. christ.

It’s scary how many of these guys make hundreds of thousands (and sometimes millions) of dollars, yet they are so close to poverty due to mismanagement. You may have just signed a $10 million dollar contract but you’re just 3 steps from working at Kinkos.

FYI… Tatum just signed a new 1 year/600,000 contract with Denver…. let’s hope things work out okay for him. 600k has to be like …… 20 years worth of Verizon Wireless kiosk pay right?