Paul Warfield is one of the greatest football players of all time and that includes both college and professional. Warfield was an All-American and national champion at Ohio State, which led to him being drafted in the first round by the Cleveland Browns in 1964. Warfield is a Pro Football Hall of Famer with a resume that includes two Super Bowl victories, an NFL championship victory and eight Pro Bowls. He spent time with the Miami Dolphins and the Browns, but most forget the lone season Warfield spent in the now-defunct World Football League.
Warfield spent the 1975 season with the Memphis Southmen. Although that season and league aren’t memorable, the way he left the NFL forced professional sports as a whole to change. In 1974, Warfield — along with Miami Dolphin teammates Larry Csonka and Jim Kiick — left the NFL for at the time a record contract for all of professional sports of over three million dollars for three years. When asked about the contract Warfield quoted The Godfather and said, “they made us an offer we couldn’t refuse.”
The offer was so jaw-dropping that when they gave Miami and their owner, Joe Robbie a chance to match the offer, Robbie got so angry that he threw the trio out of his office. the next day he was quoted by a reporter saying, “Has anyone ever asked you to deposit $3 million in a bank as a price to continue a conversation?”
Warfield’s salary for the WFL would end up being $220,000, but what really put the contract over the edge was the guaranteed salary, signing bonus, product endorsements, luxury apartments, cars and travel expenses. This end number would likely still be less than the current NFL league minimum, but in 1974 it had NFL owners shaking and resulted in contract negotiations being changed forever.
