More on Walter Nolen's Character Concerns

[SunsetBengal]

(04-14-2025, 03:34 PM)ochocincos Wrote: It does make you wonder what did motivate certain "lazy" players in college though, doesn't it?
If it's not money, what made them go out there and perform well in college?
If it was money, surely they would know they can make way more money in their 2nd contract in the NFL compared to their rookie contract as long as they actually go out there and perform.

I don't really care what attitude you have or how you perform in practice, as long as you can go ball out on game day.
But typically in order to even get a shot on game day, you gotta show (or pretend) you care in practice and outside of games.

I'm not saying that this applies to Walter Nolen specifically, but young men who are not used to having much having large amounts of cash in their hands has been a recipe for disaster for quite a long time. Now that we're in the day and age of NIL, that problem seems to have gravitated from the NFL Rookie classes down to the College Draft Hopefuls. The transfer portal isn't helping, either. 

I was listening to a former NFL HC on NFL Radio this morning talking about how some of the newer guys hitting the league think that if they aren't a star in a year, they can just request a trade, similar to using the portal to escape a tough situation in College. He went on to say that it's a hard reality when they realize that they signed a four year contract with a team and there is no "portal" to try to find a better situation. That got me to thinking about the value of the portal to the quality of players entering the draft. Sure, some use it wisely and benefit themselves and the program they played for in the process, however many others transfer away from the college that recruited them only to end up in a lesser program. Is allowing "free transfer via the portal" letting these young people think that there is no need to honor commitments in life?