Pro Bowl cornerback Richard Sherman has won a Super Bowl and made tens of millions of dollars playing in the NFL. But the San Francisco 49ers star has tried to be careful about his spending since first being drafted in 2011. That's why his first big splurge with his NFL earnings was surprisingly frugal. "I bought a Dodge Challenger, which I thought was the best thing ever and still do," Sherman tells CNBC Make It. "Other than at, I really spent wisely." Sherman, 30, bought the 2012 Dodge Challenger as a rookie playing for the Seattle Seahawks. He believes it cost between $30,000 and $35,000. Sherman says he bought the Challenger, which was royal blue with black stripes on the hood, because he thought it was "cool." He loved it so much he kept driving it until 2018, when he finally sold the car.

Sherman, who has earned $56.8 million from his professional contracts so far, according to Spotrac, has now upgraded and owns both a both a Tesla and a Maybach, which can have a starting price as high as almost $200,000. But Sherman still remembers how cautious he was when he first started receiving his NFL paychecks. "Growing up in Compton, [California], [a] dollar earned was always a dollar spent. There really was no concept of saving," Sherman tells CNBC Make It. Sherman says he was "blown away" when he started receiving his NFL paychecks — he earned over $557,000 as a rookie in 2011. His experience growing up in a low-income community made him all the more determined to spend his new income wisely while learning to save and invest. "Because of my background, I was cautious about spending [money] and quickly started budgeting," Sherman says.