Las Vegas Raiders defensive lineman Thomas Booker IV has had a very unique NFL journey thus far.
Booker was drafted in the fifth round of the 2022 NFL Draft by the Houston Texans, but was waived later and picked up by the Philadelphia Eagles. Appearing in all 17 games during the 2024 season, Booker was part of the Super Bowl-winning team. Nowadays, he finds himself with the Las Vegas Raiders.
He recently sat down with me on the Hoodie Chroniclez Podcast to discuss his Stanford education as an All-Pac-12 player and a 3-year starter for the Cardinals while majoring in Economics. We also discussed his sharp business mindset, as seen in his interviews with Raiders teammates in a segment he calls "Business with Booker."
Booker regularly asks his teammates
questions about business and finance. So when I interviewed him, I decided to turn the tables and ask him similar questions.
I asked Booker whether the NFL provides its rookies with enough structure and financial training when they enter the league, or whether it could offer more guidance on the topic.
He would say, "I think they do a pretty good job in terms of the rookie program, but I think there is more that you can do in terms of financial readiness. I think that letting people understand how investing works, how compounding works, and how to set these things up is a really cool thing, especially when you have younger kids coming into the league with a lot of money, and now with NIL, you've got guys coming in as millionaires."
I also asked how he stays motivated after earning the NFL's top prize early in his career. He said, "Yeah, I think at the end of the day, what you realize when you win a Super Bowl, and you're at that level of competition, is that the joy is partly in the destination of winning the Super Bowl. A.J. Brown talked about it too; he realized that winning was about dominating DBs and winning reps; it was the grind of it being a difficult task, and I completed it."
Booker and the Raiders will travel to take on a Los Angeles Chargers team that just suffered a loss at the hands of the Arizona Cardinals. The Raiders have a much improved defense and beat the Miami Dolphins in Week One, 27-13.
The full interview can be found below:
This article originally appeared on Touchdown Wire: Raiders Thomas Booker’s business mindset will outlast his NFL career
