Report: Tarvaris Jackson is broke, requested public defender in assault case

Former Seattle Seahawks QB Tarvaris Jackson was arrested last week on a charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon when he reportedly pulled a gun on his wife. If you thought that Jackson was just going to be "another one of these athletes or celebrities who buys their way out of jail" then think again.

According to TMZ, Jackson has claimed that he is too broke to afford an attorney. The request for a public defender was denied because apparently the judge doesn't believe that Jackson can't scrounge up enough for reasonable representation.

Jackson claims that he has no income, savings, bank accounts, or stocks. He apparently only has a "$100,000 car" which he may now have to sell in order to defend himself against these charges.

Having very little to do over these last three seasons, Jackson was paid over $2.5 million to call coin tosses and run the second team offense in practice. That's an average income of roughly $800,000, which according to CNN Money, would put him well above the threshold for being in "the one percent."

Of course, athletes are held to a different standard of financial stability. In addition to having to pay their agents and managers, athletes know that they often have zero long-term prospects after turning 30. Whatever you make during your career will have to last a long time. Jackson may have made $13 million over his career, but it wouldn't be too difficult to understand why he'd only have a few million left after taxes, agent fees, real estate, investments, and more.

Unfortunately, he apparently has none of that and it seems highly unlikely that Jackson will be signing another contract in his lifetime. It's not a happy story for anyone involved.