The 2017 NFL Draft featured a pair of players in Leonard Fournette and Christian McCaffrey who made smart decisions to skip their bowl games and just prepare for the draft. They avoided unnecessary injury. The same can't be said for Michigan tight end Jake Butt, who suffered an ACL injury in the final collegiate game of his career against Florida State in the Orange Bowl.
The good news is that Butt, according to ESPN's Darren Rovell, had an insurance policy taken out on his body and career prior to the 2016 injury. And the best news is he landed in a pretty good spot, getting drafted by the Denver Broncos with the No. 145 overall selection.
The Broncos were "holding our breath" that they'd be able to take him, according to GM John Elway.
We were holding our breath these last few picks hoping to get Michigan TE Jake Butt. A top-notch TE we're fortunate to select in the 5th.
— John Elway (@johnelway) April 29, 2017
According to ESPN's Adam Schefter, the Broncos saw Butt as a "first-round talent" and believe he can be back on the field "by August or September."
Rovell reports that Butt will eventually collect over $500,000 in insurance money.
$543,000: Money that Jake Butt will get in loss of value insurance from slipping to the first pick of the 5th round.
— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) April 29, 2017
That proved to be a very smart financial decision on his part, because he's is going to collect a bunch of money after falling down the draft board.
Per Rovell, the policy cost "roughly $25,000" for Butt to purchase, but could have paid him up to $2 million if he fell far enough in the draft.
And there's an interesting way that the policy is built out: around the midway point of the third round, Butt started collecting $10,000 per pick that he falls.
Butt collected roughly $150,000 just for falling past the third round and after becoming the eighth tight end taken in the draft.
Although Butt actually pointed out after being drafted that he might not be making quite as much money as reported, which is probably a thing where the insurance company does insurance company things and tries to be cheap about it.
Jake Butt on insurance policy: "It's really not completely accurate. There's a lot more that goes into it than what has been tweeted today."
— Nicki Jhabvala (@NickiJhabvala) April 29, 2017
Prior to the fourth round beginning, six other names in a historically great tight end class were called. O.J. Howard, Evan Engram and David Njoku all went in the first round. Gerald Everett, Adam Shaheen and Jonnu Smith all came off during the subsequent two rounds of the draft.
Going at the top of the fifth round means that Butt should also end up getting about $300,000 in signing bonus money, which means he's getting close to $1 million in total guaranteed money despite falling that far in the draft.
So Butt ended up with a nice payday despite the injury, and recouped some of the loss he took for falling down the draft. And there's also that big-time endorsement money from Charmin' getting dumped on his lawn, thanks to his very unique last name.
