Net Worth Ranker
What Is Emmitt Smith’s Net Worth?
Emmitt Smith, a celebrated retired American professional football player, has amassed a net worth of approximately $25 million. This financial standing is a result of his successful 15-season NFL career, lucrative endorsements, and astute investments in commercial real estate.
Emmitt Smith’s Football Career Earnings and Achievements
During his NFL career, primarily spent with the Dallas Cowboys, Emmitt Smith earned $61 million in salary alone. This figure does not include income from endorsements, which contributed significantly to his overall wealth. Smith holds the distinction of being the NFL’s all-time leading rusher, with a total of 18,355 rushing yards. This record underscores his exceptional talent and dedication to the sport.
Smith’s career highlights include winning three Super Bowl championships with the Dallas Cowboys. In 1993, he achieved a rare feat by winning a Super Bowl championship, the NFL Most Valuable Player award, the NFL rushing crown, and the Super Bowl Most Valuable Player award in the same season. He is the only running back to have ever accomplished this quadruple achievement.
Emmitt Smith’s football journey began in high school, where his potential as a professional athlete became evident. Despite initial doubts about his size and speed, he received an athletic scholarship to the University of Florida. There, he broke Florida’s single-game rushing record, rushing for 224 yards and two touchdowns. He left Florida early to enter the NFL Draft, but returned to complete his bachelor’s degree in public recreation later.
The Dallas Cowboys drafted Smith, and he quickly proved his doubters wrong. In his rookie season, he rushed for 937 yards and scored 11 touchdowns, earning the NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year award and Pro Bowl honors. The following year, he rushed for 1,563 yards and scored 12 touchdowns. In 1992, he set a new Cowboys record by rushing for 1,713 yards in a single season, and the Cowboys won the Super Bowl. In 1994, Smith scored a career-high 21 touchdowns. In 1995, Emmitt scored a total of 25 rushing touchdowns and helped the Cowboys win the Super Bowl once again.
Smith concluded his NFL career with the Arizona Cardinals, signing a two-year deal as a free agent. In 2004, his last season with the Cardinals, he rushed for 937 yards and scored nine touchdowns. After leaving the Cardinals, Emmitt signed a one-day, one-dollar contract with the Cowboys so that he could officially retire with the team.
Emmitt Smith’s Post-Football Career: Real Estate Ventures and Media Appearances
Since retiring from football, Emmitt Smith has transitioned into commercial real estate. Soon after leaving football, he formed Smith/Cypress Partners LP alongside fellow Cowboys legend Roger Staubach. The firm then signed Mervyn’s to anchor a $45-million, 230,000-square-foot project in Phoenix. Mervyn’s is a popular department store chain in California. It was then reported that Smith had access to $50 million in capital and was developing several additional projects. These projects included a 65-acre site in Fort Worth, plus another project to the southeast of Fort Worth. The plan was to develop one of these sites into a 600,000-square-foot retail complex.
In 2018, it was reported that Emmitt was asking the government of Pennsylvania for $14 million to build a campus of offices, labs, and homes on a 31-acre plot of land. By this point, he had formed his own firm called ESmith Properties LLC. This project was intended to provide office space for tech firms across the nation. At the time, ESmith was currently under contract to purchase this property for $12.5 million. Emmitt’s company proposed spending about $72 million to renovate a number of buildings that would be left standing on the land, which was originally used as a paper mill before being shut down.
On a personal real estate front, in 1995, Emmitt custom-built an 11,000-square-foot mansion in Dallas, Texas. He listed this home for sale in October 2021 for $2.2 million, a nod to his jersey number 22. He reportedly found a buyer within a few weeks of listing.
Emmitt Smith has also made appearances on reality TV shows, including “Dancing with the Stars” and “Deal or No Deal.”
