Cardinals’ Chase Edmonds plans to pay off sister’s student loans
Jun 16, 2018, 9:39 AM | Updated: 4:14 pm
Arizona Cardinals' fourth-round draft pick Chase Edmonds (29) runs drills during rookie camp Friday, May 11, 2018, in Tempe, Ariz. (AP Photo/Matt York)
(AP Photo/Matt York)
Arizona Cardinals rookie running back Chase Edmonds had one goal in mind when he signed his first NFL contract.
He wanted to pay his sister’s student loans.
According to ESPN’s Josh Weinfuss, the deed has been on his radar since he was 10 years old, when he made it a goal for himself to make it to the NFL and then pay off the debt.
Now that he accomplished the first goal, Edmonds said it’s time to conquer the other.
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“It’s something I always wanted to do for my sister,” Edmonds told 98.7 FM Arizona’s Sports Station’s Doug & Wolf on Thursday. “I’ve always told myself that if I ever made it to this level my mother, my father, my daughter, and my sister, no matter what the situation was, would be taken care of.
“I just want to make sure that I can take care of my immediate family because no matter what those people have always been in my corner and they’re my cornerstone.”
A fourth-round pick out of Fordham, Edmonds signed a four-year contract with the Cardinals worth $3.36 million. The contract, according to ESPN Stats & Information, included a $452,356 signing bonus.
According to Weinfuss, Edmonds’ sister, Morgan, attended North Carolina State for undergrad and then moved on to Arizona State for her master’s in counseling.
Now a therapist working with teens on mental health, anxiety, depression, eating disorders and more, Morgan owes close to $80,000 in loans, which she puts between $360 and $380 towards monthly.
When Edmonds found out the amount his sister had to pay off, it caught him off guard.
“When you’re on full scholarship you don’t realize these bills,” Edmonds told ESPN. “These things add up.”
Morgan had never officially heard from her brother about his intentions, instead learning about it through numerous text messages following her brother’s press conference at the Cardinals’ practice facility in Tempe shortly after the NFL Draft.
“She was like ‘Chase, what is this?'” Edmonds said Thursday. “I’m so glad she didn’t overreact or like cry or burst into tears because that would have been way too dramatic for me.”
Morgan told ESPN her loans weren’t something she often spoke about, acknowledging them as normal for someone attending graduate school.
“I didn’t realize my student loans were on his radar,” she said. “I wasn’t surprised, but I was like … I guess I was surprised.”
Despite the staggering number, Edmonds said he doesn’t expect or need a reaction from his sister once the loans are paid off.
To him, it’s just a way of showing her how much he cares.
“It’s a token of me telling her how much I love her, how much I appreciate everything that she’s done in my 22 years of life,” he told ESPN. “I love my big sister. That’s just the least I can do for her.”
