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Dan Fitch looks at the NFL superstars who had it all and let it slip through their fingers...

It looks as if the Indianapolis Colts are ready to make Peyton Manning the highest-paid player in the history of the NFL. Manning's current $98-million deal is expiring soon and he is set to receive a mammoth new deal.

These figures are so vast that it would seem impossible to spend it all in a lifetime, but as many former NFL greats have proved in the past, a football player and their money can soon be parted.

According to a Sports Illustrated report 78% of former NFL players either find themselves broke or financially stretched after retirement. Here are 7 NFL stars who blew all their money.

7. Johnny Unitas - Estimated lifetime earnings: $4 million
Although the legendary quarterback Johnny Unitas played at a time before football contracts were worth millions, he still earned an absolute fortune for the time. His first yearly contract in 1956 with the Colts of $7000 would be worth around $56,405 today, while his $250,000 salary plus a $175,000 bonus paid in his last season in 1973, would today be worth around $2,160,000.

After Unitas' football career ended, he gradually frittered away his earnings on a string of failed business ventures, including a chain of bowling establishments, a prime-rib restaurant, an air-freight company and a Florida real estate investment.

Unitas filed for personal bankruptcy protection in 1991 after investing in a failed circuit-board manufacturer. He died 11 years later with a lawsuit from his estate hanging over all of his businesses.

6. Dick Lane - Estimated earnings: $5 million
Dick Lane earned an estimated $5m during his career with the Los Angeles Rams, Chicago Cardinals and Detroit Lions in the fifties and sixties, living the celebrity lifestyle with his jazz singer wife Dinah Washington.

In fact he enjoyed the high life a little too much and blew much of his money on drink and drugs, with bad investments in real estate, the music business and overseas scams accounting for the rest of his fortune.

5. Raghib Ismael - Estimated lifetime earnings: $20 Million
Unlike a lot of the stars of the NFL who lost their fortune because of their wild lifestyle, Raghib 'Rocket' Ismail was only guilty of very poor business sense.

Ismail earned somewhere between $18m to $20m in his 12-year pro football career, but lost the lot by investing in a series of ventures that went bust, including a Rock n' Roll Café, COZ Records, a movie, cosmetics, nationwide phone-card dispensers, and calligraphy proverbs kiosks.

Today, the 41-year old Ismael presents a sports show for the Dallas Cowboys and as a devout Christian, appears as an inspirational speaker at churches.

4. Travis Henry - Estimated lifetime earnings: $20 million
To date the former Buffalo Bills, Tennessee Titans and Denver Broncos running back Travis Henry has fathered eleven children by ten different women. His lawyer claims he is obligated to pay at least £170,000 a year in child support payments and he was arrested in 2009 for the non-payment of £16,600 towards his childrens' upkeep.

Most people would struggle to pay that sort of child support, but having earned $20m in his career you'd think that Henry would have stood a chance. Unfortunately he couldn't keep on the straight and narrow. Henry was released from his $22.5m deal with the Denver Broncos, just one year into a five-year contract, having tested positive for marijuana and generally showing a lack of commitment.

Worse was to come when he was charged with conspiracy to possess cocaine with intent to distribute, receiving $4m in fines and a three year federal jail term.

3. Deuce McAllister - Estimated lifetime earnings: $23m
The New Orleans Saints running back earned an estimated $23m during his career between 2001 and 2008, but that didn't stop him having to file for bankruptcy for his Nissan car dealership in 2009.

Whitney National Bank claimed McAllister owed $753,183.08 plus interest after defaulting on three loans. McAllister stated that the debt was purely on his failed car business and that his other financial affairs were in good order, but if that really was the case, then why wouldn't he have just paid off a debt that was relatively small in comparison to his career earnings?

2. Lawrence Taylor - Estimated lifetime earnings: $50 million
A legendary player for the New York Giants, Lawrence Taylor earned around $50m during his career, but just five years after retiring he was declared bankrupt.

Taylor lost millions on his company All-Pro Products and was also found guilty of tax evasion. His personal life was chaotic, being charged with drug possession on several occasions, as he spent thousands each day on cocaine.

One of his excesses was to pay for prostitutes to visit the hotel rooms opponents' hotel rooms the night before a game in an attempt to tire them out. Taylor was recently charged with statutory rape, after sleeping with a 16-year old prostitute.

1. Michael Vick - Estimated lifetime earnings: More than $130 million
If you find yourself being named by Forbes as one of the 10 richest athletes in the world, then you should be set for life. Michael Vick had a $139m contract with the Atlanta Falcons as well as commercial contracts with Nike, EA Sports, Coca-Cola, Powerade, Kraft, Rawlings, Hasbro and AirTran.

Things started to turn sour for Vick when he was imprisoned for being involved with a dog fighting group. The endorsement deals were all left to expire, Vick was suspended from the NFL and he was forced to pay back a signing bonus of $19.97m to the Atlanta Falcons.

Earning just 12 cents an hour cleaning pots and pans in jail, you would have thought Vick would have reduced his spending, but instead he is estimated to have continued paying $30,000 a month to leeching family and friends. In 2008, whilst still in jail, he sought bankruptcy.

The bankruptcy saw the details of his messy finances become public. It was alleged that his business manager had wrongfully removed $900,000 from Vick's accounts and a total of $1,112,664 dollars had been withdrawn as 'cash out'. That's a total of 2764 ATM withdrawals of $400 dollars a time (including the $2.50 service charge). Having been released from jail in 2009, Vick has found employment once more with the Philadelphia Eagles.

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