A graph of the income stream of a professional athlete generally starts with a spike and then has a fairly swift drop and, if a player is good and lucky, has a long tail.
The average length of an NFL career is three seasons or so.
Video clips of particular plays will be watched and enjoyed for years.
The Twin Cities law firm of Zimmerman Reed (and attorney Bob Stein of Bob Stein LLC) has brought a class action on behalf of retired NFL players (with its own website), with six named plaintiffs, so that retired players can can get a cut of some of the revenue which they allege is wrongfully going to others and not them.