At first glance, many would say that the retired NFL player TJ Houshmandzadeh is of African ethnicity, but more than that, he has mixed roots.
Aside from his ancestry, fans wonder how much net worth Houshmandzadeh might own, given that he made $15.62 million in career earnings.
Like many athletes, stardom offered massive fandom and lucrative income to TJ but at the cost of invasion of privacy.
Recently, he got in highlights for filing a restraining order against a desperate fan who’s been harassing him & his family since 2015.
Born on September 26, 1977, Touraj Houshmandzadeh Jr. is a former NFL player who spent ten seasons (2001-11) with teams: the Bengals, Seahawks, Ravens, and Raiders.
Having played collegiate football at Cerritos College & then at Oregon State, he became the seventh-round pick of the Cincinnati Bengals in the 2001 NFL draft.
The retired wide receiver is from the same draft year as LaDainian Tomlinson, Richard Seymour, Michael Vick, and Leonard Davis, to name a few.
After his playing career retirement, Houshmandzadeh became the wide receivers coach (2016-17) and offensive coordinator (2018) at Long Beach Polytechnic High School.
The 46-year-old former player serves as the football analyst at FS1.
Regarding his personal life, he and his wife, Kaci Houshmandzadeh, are proud parents of two children.
TJ Houshmandzadeh Ethnicity: Is He Iranian? Parents & Nationality
Houshmandzadeh is the son of his now-separated parents, Touraj “TJ” Houshmandzadeh and Deborah Daniels. His father, Touraj, is Iranian, while his mother, Deborah, is African-American.
Born in Barstow, California, the former NFL wide receiver is of American nationality and has mixed ethnicity- part Iranian & part African roots.
The surname ‘Houshmandzadeh” is of Iranian/Persian origin, derived from the Persian name “Hooshmandzadeh,” meaning the “son of wisdom or intelligence.”
As reported, TJ Jr.’s parents separated when he was a toddler– he was about two years old.
His father and mother met at San Diego State University and began dating shortly after.
At his birth, his parents were not married, so his dad proposed to marry Deborah while also wanting to move the family to his home country, Iran.
However, after Houshmandzadeh’s mom declined to move, his father left them and has not been in the player’s life ever since.
How Much Is TJ Houshmandzadeh’s Net Worth?
As of 2024, Houshmandzadeh has an estimated net worth of $5 million. Primarily, he earned a hefty sum through his NFL career, and his post-playing career as a coach & analyst aided in his income.
TJ works as a football analyst for FS1. Previously, from 2016 to 2018, he worked as a wide receivers coach/offensive coordinator at Long Beach Polytechnic High School.
According to Spotrac, throughout his NFL career of 10 seasons (a total of 11, but he didn’t play in 2003-04), he made $15.621 million.
For his last season in the NFL (i.e., 2011-12 season), TJ earned a salary of $535,924.
The former NFL star’s most lucrative contract was a five-year/$40 million contract, which he signed on March 2, 2009. This deal averaged his annual salary at $8 million.
Also, TJ has had possessions of real estate across the United States. He sold his off-season house in Cincinnati, Ohio, for $289K in 2015.
In March 2018, the former Raiders wide receiver sold his five-bedroom Newport Coast home for $4.085 million. The property sales value was $700K more than the $3.458 million price that he & his wife Kaci had paid in August 2007.
Houshmandzadeh Faced A Trouble From A Desperate Fan
In December 2023, the retired NFL star TJ Houshmandzadeh filed a restraining order against a female fan in Los Angeles. As reported, she’s been giving trouble to his family since 2015.
According to TMZ, she is a 53-year-old woman named Annette Marie, who legally changed her surname to “Houshmandzadeh” to be able to close with the football player.
She reportedly posed as the mother of TJ’s kids online while also making contact with his wife. Also, at one point, in one of her emails, Annette wrote that she had “several bullets inscribed with the names of each member of the Houshmandzadeh family.”
Houshmandzadeh previously obtained a restraining order against her to stay 500 yards away from him in 2015, which expired in 2019.
