Eric Decker is a fan-favorite wide receiver in the National Football League who has played for the Denver Broncos, the New York Jets, the Tennessee Titans, and the New England Patriots.
Over the course of his career, Decker was able to help the Denver Broncos get to the Super Bowl.
Although he has recently retired from the National Football League, Eric Decker has kept himself busy with his family and the business he runs with his wife.
What Is Eric Decker’s Net Worth?
Eric Decker has a net worth of $10 million, which he mostly earned during his time as a professional football player.
He would later go on to run the women’s clothing brand Kittenish and star in a reality show with his wife, country music star Jessie James Decker.
Decker was born on March 15th of 1987 in Cold Springs, Colorado.
He discovered his love for sports from an early age, and he would go on to play football, basketball, and baseball in high school.
While attending Rocori High School on September 24th of 2003, Eric Decker was forced to hide from a student shooter in a cupboard.
He remained in the cupboard until police officers removed him from the building, but students Seth Bartell and Aaron Rollins were killed in the attack.
Despite the traumatic event that occurred, Decker continued to thrive as a young athlete and became a standout teammate on the school’s various sports teams.
Thanks to his athletic and academic talent, Decker went on to attend the University of Minnesota and played for both their football and baseball teams.
Once again, Eric Decker made himself stand out from the crowd thanks to his performance on the football field.
He was one of the university’s best players from his sophomore year to his senior year.
By 2009, Sports Illustrated had named him the third-best wide receiver that the college football league had to offer.
Decker would find himself in the National Football League’s draft only a year later and was picked 87th overall by the Denver Broncos.
Decker would remain with the Denver Broncos from 2010 until 2014 when he joined the New York Jets.
He’d quickly move on to the Tennessee Titans and then chose to retire after joining the New England Patriots.
Playing As A Wide Receiver For The Denver Broncos
Eric Decker may have brought plenty of attention to himself on the college football field thanks to his talent as a wide receiver, but there were doubts about how Decker would truly manage in the National Football League due to his lack of “top-end speed.”
Decker’s speed was frequently a problem when professional teams looked into him as a potential new team member.
His maximum speed was such a problem that even his Scouting Combine Profile noted that his potential could be limited by his lack of speed.
While most other professional teams saw this as a weakness, the Denver Broncos saw it as an opportunity to make a successful underdog out of Decker.
Their new wide receiver wasn’t able to play much in his rookie year due to the depth of his abilities at the time, but the Broncos were determined to make a football star out of Decker.
Throughout his four-year contract, Decker was set to make $2.5 million.
By his second year with the Denver Broncos, Decker was beginning to prove that he was worth the millions that the team was spending on him.
Eric Decker started every game in the 2011 season, but things were about to change when the Denver Broncos brought football superstar Peyton Manning to the team.
Decker may have been shoved into the background, but he still played exceptionally well and finished the season with 85 catches for 1,064 yards and 13 touchdowns.
When it was time to renew his contract in 2014, the Denver Broncos never made him another offer and, instead, offered his position to Emmanuel Sanders with a three-year, $15 million deal.
According to Decker, it was purely a business decision. Jessie James Decker told the public that her husband had become “depressed” after that.
Joining The New York Jets
Eric Decker may have felt betrayed by his former team, but the New York Jets were more than ready to treat Decker with the respect he deserved.
They offered him a five-year, $36.25 million contract due to their desperate quarterback situation.
Decker’s agent, Todd France, informed the Denver Broncos of the deal that the New York Jets had given him and offered to allow them to make a counteroffer.
However, neither France nor Decker ever heard a word back from the Denver Broncos.
Going into the situation, Eric Decker wasn’t optimistic about joining the team that had been suffering so badly in recent years.
Although Decker never thought that he would land on a failing team, he decided that it was better than not having a professional football career at all.
In the first two years that Decker spent with the Jets, he averaged almost 1,000 yards with 17 combined touchdowns.
Although the team had originally offered him a five-year contract, Decker would only play for three of those years before the New York Jets decided that he was too expensive to keep around.
The Jets were ready to trade Decker by 2016, and they planned on releasing him if nobody wanted to trade for the wide receiver.
The Baltimore Ravens had considered adding Decker to their roster for a moment, but they decided to sign Jeremy Maclin instead.
Eric Decker wasn’t the only veteran player to be released suddenly by the New York Jets at the time.
Before Decker, the Jets released linebacker David Harris and fans were shocked by his release as well.
The Tennessee Titans decided to offer Eric Decker a position, believing that the 30-year-old veteran player could offer some insight and coverage for their younger players like Derrick Harry.
His Short Time With The Titans And the Patriots
When Erice Decker joined the Tennessee Titans, it couldn’t have been a more ideal situation for both parties.
The Titans were in serious need of a well-rounded wide receiver to help their up-and-coming quarterback Marcus Mariota, and Decker already lived in Nashville with his country singer wife.
After his experience with the Jets, Decker was tired of having to chase down teams he didn’t want to play for.
He told his agent that if he couldn’t play for the Tennessee Titans, he didn’t want to play in the National Football League anymore.
Eric Decker already lived in Nashville, and his wife mostly worked in the city as well.
Being a family man, Decker was sick of having to be away from his wife and children.
In 2016, Decker had discovered that he needed surgery on his hips and a torn rotator cuff.
Although Decker was previously predicted to be unable to join the Titans for training, he somehow managed to heal much more quickly than expected and was at training camp with his new team.
During his time with the Tennessee Titans, Decker received 54 passes for 563 yards.
However, he would quickly be released by the Titans after missing time with them due to frequent injuries.
After being released from the Tennessee Titans, Eric Decker moved on to join the New England Patriots.
However, the veteran wide receiver could feel that something was off from the moment that he joined the team.
Whether it was the physical pain he was feeling from all the injuries catching up with him or the emotional pain of being handed around like a baton by his previous teams, Decker simply wasn’t the same on the field and didn’t even last a month with his new team before he retired.
Why Decker Chose To Retire
By the end of the 2018 season, Eric Decker wasn’t sure that he wanted to continue playing for the National Football League.
His mood changed when he got a call from the New England Patriots and felt that he couldn’t turn down the opportunity.
Decker ended up loving his time with coach Bill Belichick because of the way that Belichick thought of the players’ well-being above all else.
He also appreciated the way that Belichick handled his four-game suspension.
During the month that Decker spent with the New England Patriots, he loved the environment that the team created and adored his time working alongside Tom Brady.
However, Decker found himself missing his wife and children.
Although there were rumors of the New England Patriots being an emotionally cold organization, Decker found them to be focused, devoted, and extremely professional.
When looking around at the people surrounding him on the team, Decker noticed that he couldn’t give the same level of dedication as everyone else.
The wide receiver went to his coach and talked to him about how he felt mentally and emotionally checked out when it came to his career.
He was already worried about being cut from the team again due to his “lousy” performance after a few preseason games.
It only took the wide receiver a few weeks to decide that his time with the National Football League was over and it was time for him to spend more of his time with his family.
While Jessie James Decker may miss the way their children would chant on their way to watch their father play, she was excited to have more time with her husband.
During an exit interview, Belichick praised Decker for his career in the National Football League and had a mutual respect for the wide receiver.
Starring In Eric & Jessie: Game On
In 2013, Eric Decker and country singer Jessie James starred in their own reality show called Eric & Jessie: Game On.
The show only went on for three seasons and consisted of 20 episodes across the seasons.
The first season of the show began airing on September 29th of 2013, shortly after the couple had gotten engaged.
Over the course of the first season, you get to watch the wide receiver and his country singer wife plan out their wedding and their future.
Viewers were also able to get a glance into their bachelor and bachelorette parties.
The season ended with their wedding and reception.
The second season followed the celebrity couple through their pregnancy with their daughter, which was the same year that Eric Decker went to the Super Bowl.
During this season, you get to watch how the Deckers handle not knowing where the wide receiver will end up and his decision to join the New York Jets.
It would be a couple of years before the show would be brought back in 2017.
By this time, the couple had two children and Eric Decker had played for National Football League teams all over the country.
Towards the end of season three, Decker was joining the Tennessee Titans and things were looking up for the family.
The series ended with Jessie James Decker performing at the Grand Ole Opry.
Only a year after the reality show ended, fans were clamoring for more.
However, Jessie James Decker made sure to inform fans that there wouldn’t be a season four coming late as season three did.
She and her husband felt that the show had ended on a good note and that it was time to close the reality television chapter of their lives.
Becoming The President Of Kittenish
As soon as Eric Decker retired from the National Football League, his wife had a new job lined up for him right away.
She made him the president of her clothing line and boutique Kittenish thanks to his knowledge of the business world and his degree in business.
The couple owns three Kittenish locations in three different states, which can be found in Tampa, Dallas, and Nashville.
As president of the brand, Eric Decker handles the business meetings and direction that the business takes.
Kittenish started as a single store in Nashville, but the couple decided to expand the brand to include a store in Tampa shortly after opening the first location.
Most recently, they opened the store in Dallas.
Kittenish has been a massive success among consumers and has even become a favorite of celebrities such as Kristen Chenoweth.
Jessie James Decker designs clothing that is inspired by the 1990s and early 2000s.
The brand has become so popular that they have been able to collaborate with Juicy Couture to create a line of velour tracksuits.
The couple has also expanded the clothing line to include swimwear that comes in a variety of styles.
Although Eric Decker is more than excited to help his wife achieve her dreams as a fashion designer, he doesn’t give unwanted advice and allows the country singer to let her creativity flow freely.
His only concern is to make sure that it gets done in the best way for their business.
Only a month after opening up their first storefront, Kittenish made its first $1 million.
By 2021, they were projected to grow 100% year on year and bring in $20 million.
Over the next few years, the Deckers intend to open up at least 15 more stores and spread around the country.
Using His Free Time For Philanthropic Efforts
Eric Decker and Jessie James Decker created the Eric + Jessie Decker Foundation to help them raise money for the causes that they care about the most.
The most common causes that the Foundation supports are getting service dogs for military veterans, anti-bullying campaigns, and after-school programs that keep children off the streets.
In 2014, the couple founded Decker’s Dogs.
This organization funded the rescue of dogs that would later be raised to be service dogs for military veterans, effectively saving two lives at the same time.
When Decker’s Dogs was first started, the couple was able to rescue and train their first two dogs for $25,000.
They planned to rescue more dogs in the future and repeat the process.
Deckers Dogs was short-lived, but the couple continues to support Freedom Service Dogs of America.
It is still an important cause for the couple because Jessie James Decker comes from a military family.
The reason the Eric + Jessie Foundation supported a variety of anti-bullying causes was the school shooting Eric Decker experienced while attending Rocori High School.
When the shooter was asked why he killed the two students, he claimed that he had been bullied by one of them, and the other student was only shot because the shooter missed his intended target.
Decker feels that it is incredibly important for children to learn how to communicate their feelings in an effective manner and to grow up in an environment that establishes self-confidence.
Being a father now, he never wants his children to experience the same terror he did as a teen.
Jessie James Decker personally knows what it is like to be bullied every day at school.
She was forced to move constantly as a military child, which meant she’d often get picked on at new schools.
What Lies Ahead For Eric Decker
Between his three children and a successful chain of boutiques, Eric Decker has more than enough to keep him busy.
Despite all the responsibility he has, his wife claims that he wants to have even more children.
His days as a professional wide receiver may be over, but his time as a business tycoon has just begun.
Although his kids may not be able to watch him play in a stadium anymore, they get to spend much more time with their father who loves them dearly.
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Don Chirhart says
I grew up in the same Minnesota town as did Decker. His grandparents were good friends with my parents.