Former NFL Wide Receiver Torrey Smith Rips Concept of ‘Rookie Dinners’

The topic of the infamous NFL “rookie dinners” was recently sparked after Jets rookie Garrett Wilson was surprised to hear about the concept. 

Basically, NFL rookies are expected to take their new teammates out to dinner and pay for the entire bill. Veteran players, such as Tom Brady, purposefully order food and drinks worth up to thousands of dollars to mess with the rookies. Wilson was told he would need to spend $75,000 on his Jets teammates, for example.

Former wide receiver Torrey Smith recently added to the conversation on Twitter, sharing that he isn’t a fan of the idea of “rookie dinners.”

“Rookie dinners are BS!” Smith wrote. “I’m glad I had an OG that realized teaching me to blow money is STUPID! It does not prove you belong on a team. Shout out to @AnquanBoldin! Dudes come into the league with no financial literacy and real problems but folks think 50k dinners are cool! NAH!”

The 33-year-old emphasized how rookies are too young to know how to deal with their finances that quickly, and it’s not a good practice to teach players to blow all their money on expensive dinners or luxuries.

Smith was a rookie in 2011 on the Ravens, and ex-Baltimore wideout Anquan Boldin apparently protected Smith from partaking in the practice and told him to save his money.