The average career length of an NFL player these days is around just three years. Sadly, many of those players find themselves out in the cold once their careers end, and the ones that do not save their money are stuck up the creek without a paddle.

Even players that are fortunate enough to have long NFL careers often end up filing for bankruptcy, after mismanaging their incomes throughout their careers.

This is not the case for former Denver Broncos kicker Jason Elam, who saved up a few pennies during his seventeen-year career.  Elam is a licensed commercial airplane pilot, author, the Director of Israel for E3 Partners Ministry, a hunter, fisherman, Alaskan home owner and former NFL star.

Basically, he’s living the life.

Last weekend, Destination America aired a TV segment on their show “Buying Alaska” which featured Elam and his wife looking to purchase an Alaskan home. Footage of the show, pointed out to me by BroncoTalk’s Josh Temple (@Crosshare77 on Twitter) can be seen after the jump.

We can’t confirm if Elam bought this particular house, but his listed location on Twitter is “Alaska or the Middle East,” so we assume the Elams do have a place up North.  It’s easy to deduce that Jason is living in Alaska these days by his tweets, which often resemble something along the lines of this:

Just took this out my window. Little Bull Moose. twitter.com/Jason_Elam/sta…

— Jason Elam (@Jason_Elam) December 27, 2012

Elam was a three-time Pro Bowl selection, three-time All Pro selection and two-time Super Bowl champion during his career and booted a 63-yard field goal to tie an NFL record while with the Broncos (Elam spent two final seasons in Atlanta before signing a one-day contract in Denver to retire a Bronco in 2010). The guy has done it all.

Kudos to Jason, who set himself up to be successful in his post-NFL career. His career is one from which many young players can learn.  Granted, Elam was a kicker and blessed to play for seventeen seasons, but he was wise with his money.  And that is paying dividends today.