Pittsburgh Steelers rookie cornerback Cortez Allen has his mind set on the upcoming football season and is taking advantage to the limited resources he has as a result of the lockout. The fourth round draft pick out of The Citadel is ready to contribute in any way that he can to an already daunting Steelers defense.
“I am highly competitive and highly athletic,” Allen said. “I soak up a lot of information and I am willing to learn and love to learn new things. I feel very confident and I’m ready to contribute.” He was one of many rookies in attendance at The Business of Football: Rookie Edition, an event intended to educate players on finances.
Though he hasn’t set foot on an NFL field yet, Allen is already planning for his future. He said, “I learned that you have to save and learn how to say no. It seems like it gets a lot of people in trouble that they don’t know how to save and they don’t know how to budget.”
Regardless of the high salaries players make, it could be easy to spend it quickly if you aren’t prudent and well educated on how to manage money. Allen may be a few years away from having to worry about managing a big contract, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t thinking about it, as he said that “you have to prepare, and you have to have that mindset to be ready for whatever happens.”
“We learned a lot of information, a lot of helpful nuggets just to prepare for life after football and life during football,” Allen said, extremely thankful that the players association put together the event. “Being here is a really big benefit. I want to thank the NFLPA for making this happen and giving us the opportunity to learn and take away some good information for the future.”
Allen is looking forward to getting onto the field and working with some of the veterans on the Steelers. He said: “I am looking forward to working with Ike Taylor. He’s a vet corner and I think I can learn a lot from him since he’s been in the league for a long time. I’m really excited to learn from him.”
With the experience that older players have in the league already, upcoming rookies have to be sure to learn as much as possible when working with the veterans. “I’ve talked to a couple of them,” Allen said of the veteran Steelers. “Anthony Madison gave me the best advice by telling me what to expect, but what everyone says is to just stay ready.” When the time comes, Cortez Allen will be ready to step up big for Pittsburgh.
