ENGLEWOOD, Colo. (AP) — A smattering of players on every team entered their contract year over the weekend when the NFL kicked off its 105th season.
Among the bigger names playing out the last year of their current contracts are Patriots quarterback Jacoby Brissett and wide receivers Keenan Allen of the Bears and Marquise “Hollywood” Brown of the Chiefs.
While impending free agents all have fans rooting for these players to have a monster season, a new twist has been added to Broncos outside linebacker Baron Browning 's quest for a standout season leading to a big pay raise in 2025.
The fourth-year edge rusher from Ohio State has fans who are literally invested in his success — not just emotionally, but now financially, too.
Browning headlined a new investment platform this spring that allowed fans to start buying and selling shares in the future on-the-field earnings of professional athletes. His very own stock will begin trading in a few weeks.
So, Browning is No. 5 in your program and his ticker on the stock market is BDBR.
Browning’s initial offering as Vestible's launch athlete recently closed after raising $656,730 with 65,673 shares sold at $10 each (minimum of 10 shares).
If investors hold onto the stock, they could make a profit if Browning's career earnings surpass his market valuation of $65 million. Or they could trade the stock on the secondary market that will be established following the requisite 30-day compliance period.
“It's definitely been enjoyable,” said Browning. “It’s a new way for fans and athletes to connect. Being the first one to do it has been cool, I appreciate them giving me the opportunity.”
Browning received 80% of the proceeds from his IPO, or $525,384.
In exchange, shareholders receive 1% of his on-field earnings for the rest of his NFL playing career. Investors will receive monthly dividend distributions or they can trade Browning's stock on Vestible's app once the secondary market opens at the end of September.
Browning is set to earn a $3.116 million salary in 2024, the final year of his four-year, $4.79 million deal he signed as a third-round draft pick out of Ohio State in 2021.
Browning made a successful switch from inside linebacker to edge rusher in 2022 but he also suffered a right knee injury that season that caused him to miss the first six games in 2023. Upon his return to action, Browning played a major role in Denver’s defensive-fueled turnaround last season.
As such, Browning fits Vestible’s profile as an up-and-comer with a massive upside potential, said cofounders Yves Batoba and Parker Graham.
Batoba and Graham were teammates on Oklahoma State’s football team more than a decade ago, and each had a brief stint in the NFL — Graham as an offensive tackle for the Ravens in 2014 and Batoba as the Dolphins assistant director of player development for several years.
After football, Graham went to work in investment management and founded the banking software company Finotta. This is his second start-up. After several years with the Dolphins, Batoba branched out into comprehensive athlete development.
They began brainstorming during the pandemic ways to unite the sports and investment worlds. Other platforms have attempted to do that but those ventures used tracking stocks with values tied to an athlete’s on-field performance. Vestible’s securities are solely based on market demand.
Vestible will add more athletes from the NFL and NBA to its ranks by year's end with that same sort of late bloomer vibe that Browning has, Graham said.
“He's kind of a diamond in the rough, if you will," Graham said. “And our models find players like that and allow folks to believe in them at the earliest stage, so that when hopefully Baron goes out and has a great season this year, everyone gets to succeed: him, his fans, his investors."
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Seattle Seahawks running back Kenneth Walker III (9) carries the ball as Denver Broncos linebacker Baron Browning (5) defends during the first half of an NFL football game Sunday, Sept. 8, 2024, in Seattle. (AP Photo/John Froschauer)
Denver Broncos linebacker Baron Browning heads over to take part in a drill during an NFL football practice Friday, Sept. 6, 2024, at the team's headquarters in Centennial, Colo. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
A key employee who labeled a doomed experimental submersible unsafe prior to its last, fatal voyage testified Tuesday that he frequently clashed with the company’s co-founder and felt the company was committed only to making money.
David Lochridge, OceanGate’s former operations director, is one of the most anticipated witnesses to appear before a commission trying to determine what caused the Titan to implode en route to the wreckage of the Titanic last year, killing all five on board. His testimony echoed that of other former employees Monday, one of whom described OceanGate head Stockton Rush as volatile and difficult to work with.
“The whole idea behind the company was to make money,” Lochridge said. “There was very little in the way of science.”
Rush was among the five people who died in the implosion. OceanGate owned the Titan and brought it on several dives to the Titanic going back to 2021.
Lochridge's testimony began a day after other witnesses painted a picture of a troubled company that was impatient to get its unconventionally designed craft into the water. The accident set off a worldwide debate about the future of private undersea exploration.
Lochridge joined the company in the mid-2010s as a veteran engineer and submersible pilot and said he quickly came to feel he was being used to lend the company scientific credibility. He said he felt the company was selling him as part of the project “for people to come up and pay money,” and that did not sit well with him.
“I was, I felt, a show pony,” he said. “I was made by the company to stand up there and do talks. It was difficult. I had to go up and do presentations. All of it.”
Lochridge referenced a 2018 report in which he raised safety issues about OceanGate operations. He said with all of the safety issues he saw “there was no way I was signing off on this.”
Asked whether he had confidence in the way the Titan was being built, he said: “No confidence whatsoever.”
Employee turnover was very high at the time, said Lochridge, and leadership dismissed his concerns because they were more focused on “bad engineering decisions” and a desire to get to the Titanic as quickly as possible and start making money. He eventually was fired after raising the safety concerns, he said.
“I didn’t want to lose my job. I wanted to do the Titanic. But to dive it safely. It was on my bucket list, too,” he said.
OceanGate, based in Washington state, suspended its operations after the implosion.
OceanGate's former engineering director, Tony Nissen, kicked off Monday's testimony, telling investigators he felt pressured to get the vessel ready to dive and refused to pilot it for a journey several years before Titan's last trip. Nissen worked on a prototype hull that predated the Titanic expeditions.
“‘I’m not getting in it,’” Nissen said he told Rush.
When asked if there was pressure to get Titan into the water, Nissen responded, “100%.”
But asked if he felt that the pressure compromised safety decisions and testing, Nissen paused, then replied, “No. And that’s a difficult question to answer, because given infinite time and infinite budget, you could do infinite testing.”
OceanGate's former finance and human resources director, Bonnie Carl, testified Monday that Lochridge had characterized the Titan as “unsafe.”
Coast Guard officials noted at the start of the hearing that the submersible had not been independently reviewed, as is standard practice. That and Titan's unusual design subjected it to scrutiny in the undersea exploration community.
During the submersible's final dive on June 18, 2023, the crew lost contact after an exchange of texts about the Titan's depth and weight as it descended. The support ship Polar Prince then sent repeated messages asking if the Titan could still see the ship on its onboard display.
One of the last messages from Titan’s crew to Polar Prince before the submersible imploded stated, “all good here,” according to a visual re-creation presented earlier in the hearing.
When the submersible was reported overdue, rescuers rushed ships, planes and other equipment to an area about 435 miles (700 kilometers) south of St. John’s, Newfoundland. Wreckage of the Titan was subsequently found on the ocean floor about 330 yards (300 meters) off the bow of the Titanic, Coast Guard officials said.
Scheduled to appear later in the hearing are OceanGate co-founder Guillermo Sohnlein and former scientific director, Steven Ross, according to a list compiled by the Coast Guard. Numerous guard officials, scientists, and government and industry officials are also expected to testify. The U.S. Coast Guard subpoenaed witnesses who were not government employees, said Coast Guard spokesperson Melissa Leake.
Among those not on the hearing witness list is Rush’s widow, Wendy Rush, the company’s communications director. Asked about her absence, Leake said the Coast Guard does not comment on the reasons for not calling specific individuals to a particular hearing during ongoing investigations. She said it’s common for a Marine Board of Investigation to “hold multiple hearing sessions or conduct additional witness depositions for complex cases.”
OceanGate has no full-time employees at this time but will be represented by an attorney during the hearing, the company said in a statement. The company said it has been fully cooperating with the Coast Guard and NTSB investigations since they began.
The time frame for the investigation was initially a year, but the inquiry has taken longer. The ongoing Marine Board of Investigation is the highest level of marine casualty investigation conducted by the Coast Guard. When the hearing concludes, recommendations will be submitted to the Coast Guard’s commandant. The National Transportation Safety Board is also conducting an investigation.
Guard investigative board member Thomas Whalen, Coast, left, and Katie Williams, of the Coast Guard, right, huddle Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024, during a recess for the Titan marine board formal hearing, in North Charleston, S.C. (Andrew J. Whitaker/The Post And Courier via AP, Pool)
Exhibits are presented during the Titan marine board formal hearing inside the Charleston County Council Chambers Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024, in North Charleston, S.C. (Andrew J. Whitaker/The Post and Courier/Pool Photo via AP)
Exhibits are presented during the Titan marine board formal hearing inside the Charleston County Council Chambers Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024, in North Charleston, S.C. (Andrew J. Whitaker/The Post and Courier/Pool Photo via AP)
Former OceanGate's Director of Marine Operations, David Lochridge, center, testifies, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024, in front of the Titan marine board formal hearing inside the Charleston County Council Chambers, in North Charleston, S.C. (Andrew J. Whitaker/The Post And Courier via AP, Pool)
Board Chairman Jason Neubauer, left, and board member Thomas Whalen, of the investigative board for the Titan marine board formal hearing, speak with former OceanGate's Director of Marine Operations David Lochridge, foreground, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024, in North Charleston, S.C. (Andrew J. Whitaker/The Post And Courier via AP, Pool)
Board Chairman Jason Neubauer, left, and board member Thomas Whalen, of the investigative board for the Titan marine board formal hearing, speak with former OceanGate's Director of Marine Operations David Lochridge, foreground left, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024, in North Charleston, S.C. (Andrew J. Whitaker/The Post And Courier via AP, Pool)
Former OceanGate's Director of Marine Operations, David Lochridge, center, stands during his testimony, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024, for the Titan marine board formal hearing inside the Charleston County Council Chambers, in North Charleston, S.C. (Andrew J. Whitaker/The Post And Courier via AP, Pool)
This June 2023 image provided by Pelagic Research Services shows remains of the Titan submersible on the floor of the Atlantic Ocean. (Pelagic Research Services via AP)
In a still from from a video animation provided by the United States Coast Guard an illustration of the Titan submersible, right, is shown near the ocean floor of the Atlantic Ocean, as June 18, 2023 communications between the submersible and the support vessel Polar Prince, not shown, are represented at left. (United States Coast Guard via AP)
In a still from from a video animation provided by the United States Coast Guard an illustration of the Titan submersible, right, is shown near the ocean floor of the Atlantic Ocean, as June 18, 2023 communications between the submersible and the support vessel Polar Prince, not shown, are represented at left. (United States Coast Guard via AP)
Coast Guard's Thomas Whalen, left, speaks with Nicole Emmons, right, during a break for the Titan marine board formal hearing inside the Charleston County Council Chambers, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, in North Charleston, S.C. (AP Photo/Mic Smith)
Coast Guard's Thomas Whalen speaks with another Coast Guard member during a break for the Titan marine board formal hearing inside the Charleston County Council Chambers, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, in North Charleston, S.C. (AP Photo/Mic Smith)
Jason Neubauer, board chairman, of the investigative board for the Titan marine board formal hearing pauses for a moment of silence inside the Charleston County Council Chambers Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, in North Charleston, S.C. (AP Photo/Mic Smith)
Coast Guard members of the investigative board for the Titan marine board formal hearing pause for a moment of silence inside the Charleston County Council Chambers Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, in North Charleston, S.C. (AP Photo/Mic Smith)
Coast Guard members of the investigative board for the Titan marine board formal hearing take an oath inside the Charleston County Council Chambers Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, in North Charleston, S.C. (AP Photo/Mic Smith)
A key employee who called the Titan unsafe will testify before the Coast Guard
FILE - This undated image provided by OceanGate Expeditions in June 2021 shows the company's Titan submersible. (OceanGate Expeditions via AP, File)
A key employee who called the Titan unsafe will testify before the Coast Guard
