CINCINNATI (WKRC) – Bengals safety Tycen Anderson hasn’t made life-changing money in his first four NFL seasons, but what he did with that money allowed him to give his mother, Sandra, a very special 50th birthday present a couple of months early.
On July 21, the day before Bengals veterans were scheduled to report for training camp, he surprised his mother, and father William, by purchasing a new house for them in their hometown of Toledo. Anderson went to high school at Toledo St. John’s and played collegiately at the University of Toledo.
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“I wouldn’t be here with the Bengals without both of my parents and my whole support system,” said Anderson. “It was something I felt in my heart I needed to do.”
He pulled off the surprise with a little white lie.
“I picked her up from work and picked my dad up from the house (the Anderson’s were living in at the time) when he was done with his job and told them we were going to Bubba’s (33) Restaurant in Toledo to get food before coming back to Cincinnati as like a final dinner with the family,” said Anderson. “I told her we had to make one more stop to see a role model of mine and made a story up. They bought it. The rest is history. She had no clue at all.”
Seeing her reaction was all Anderson needed to make him happy he had pulled off the surprise.
“I was just excited to see how she was going to react,” said Anderson. “I was just excited she was happy. It felt real good, like a proud, proud son.”
Anderson is entering the fourth and final year of his initial four-year contract and has $2.7 million so far, including a $306,000 signing bonus. He said a combination of investments, savings and some real estate purchases helped him to be able to purchase the house.
“Once I bought my first property and understand how real estate works and how assets work in general and being smart with my money I was in position to do something like that,” Anderson said. “It was something I had been thinking about doing for a long time, and once I got to the pros I was determined to do it.”
Anderson is due $1.1 million in base salary this season.
He is one of the Bengals’ top special teams players and is currently a backup safety. He has never played a regular-season defensive snap in his career, but that will likely come this season.
“I feel like I’m getting better every day and picking up on new things to get better at my game,” said Anderson. “I just need to keep stacking bricks.”
He already did that in a way for his mom and dad.