Outlast The Jungle star Wes Saunders' huge estimated NFL earnings explained

Netflix star Wes Saunders enjoyed a highly successful sporting career before making the leap into reality television.

The 37-year-old features in the latest series of Outlast: The Jungle, a survival contest that throws 16 strangers together in a fierce battle for $1 million.

Contestants are dropped into the heart of a Panamanian jungle armed with nothing more than basic supplies and must endure life in the wilderness. Among those competing are influencer Halle Cooley and former American football star Wes.

His NFL career got under way in July 2011, when he signed with the Pittsburgh Steelers as an undrafted free agent. The tight end secured a place on the team's official 53-man roster in September of that year.

He subsequently moved to the Indianapolis Colts in 2012, having served a suspension for breaching the NFL's substance-abuse regulations during his time with the Steelers. Wes had tested positive for Adderall, a stimulant commonly prescribed for Attention Deficit Disorders, reports the Mirror.

Despite the setbacks in his early career, Wes still commanded impressive earnings from his time in sport.

Wes Saunders has an estimated net worth of around $1.5 million. Spotrac suggests he pocketed approximately $1.2 million from his football contracts alone, though that excludes his earnings away from the field.

Separate reports from The Tab place the sporting star's net worth at a remarkable $5 million. Either way, he ranks amongst the highest earners on the Netflix programme.

The competitive series is yet to crown a champion, with just a small number of contestants remaining in contention ahead of next week's grand finale.

The remaining participants are: Sarah Awad, Abby Chu, Morgan Colburn, Braxton Fish, Pharaoh Gayles, Nikki Hru, Maddy Jones, Leiya Pillitteri and Wes Saunders.

Prior to its launch, showrunner Mike Odair confirmed that this series boasts one of the most compelling line-ups to date.

"This season felt like throwing gasoline on the format," he told Netflix. "We traded the frozen isolation of Alaska for the heat and volatility of Panama, and everything changed: the survival, the strategy, and the social dynamics ... This may be our most dynamic group yet."