More on Walter Nolen's Character Concerns

[Whatever]

(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.

Because natural athletic ability is king in college football, that's why.

You've got 134 FBS schools with 85 scholarship players a piece.  That's 11,390 players, not counting walk ons.  

When you look at an NFL roster, the average RAS of a guy on a 53 man roster is 7.16.  That means they're in the top 29% of all college players that test at their position.  The average RAS for an NFL starter is over 8, meaning top 20%.  There's tons of kids littering college rosters that just don't have the athletic traits to cut it in the NFL, even in a power conference like the SEC. 

A guy can be a monster in college without really applying himself in practice, but when he gets to the NFL and the competition jumps and most everyone is a plus athlete that also puts in the work to learn the nuances of their positions, then the guy who doesn't apply himself can find himself floundering.

[*ochocincos*]

(04-14-2025, 06:01 PM)Whatever Wrote: Because natural athletic ability is king in college football, that's why.

You've got 134 FBS schools with 85 scholarship players a piece.  That's 11,390 players, not counting walk ons.  

When you look at an NFL roster, the average RAS of a guy on a 53 man roster is 7.16.  That means they're in the top 29% of all college players that test at their position.  The average RAS for an NFL starter is over 8, meaning top 20%.  There's tons of kids littering college rosters that just don't have the athletic traits to cut it in the NFL, even in a power conference like the SEC. 

A guy can be a monster in college without really applying himself in practice, but when he gets to the NFL and the competition jumps and most everyone is a plus athlete that also puts in the work to learn the nuances of their positions, then the guy who doesn't apply himself can find himself floundering.

Ooh, that's good to know.
I just found that page on RAS website. I had never seen that before.
https://ras.football/roster-breakdowns-of-ras/

But is that really what causes some guys to not produce in NFL vs college?
Are we sure they aren't getting on the field because they just aren't good enough, or could it be they aren't motivated enough to try hard in practice, thus giving coaches a reason to not even try to put them out there during games when maybe they could actually produce?
I know some coaches live by the age old rule that if you slack off in practice, you don't get to play in games, even if you have the talent to do well.
Principle kinda thing.

I'm not saying I'm excusing them to not try during practices or coming to camp out of shape.
All I'm saying is different people have different motivators.
Some, I'm sure, may not find practice enjoyable and can actually go perform well in games because that's what they actually care about.
Allen Iverson is someone who pops into my head.
AI though was among the elite of the elite, so he could prove he didn't need to go hard every practice to do well in games.

[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?

[*ochocincos*]

(04-14-2025, 07:08 PM)SunsetBengal Wrote: 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?

I wasn't sure how much until I just looked it up, but some players are getting hundreds of thousands, some even $1+ mill from NIL in college.
That's crazy.
https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/inside-the-college-football-nil-market-how-much-players-at-each-position-are-actually-getting-paid/

[SunsetBengal]

(04-14-2025, 07:15 PM)ochocincos Wrote: I wasn't sure how much until I just looked it up, but some players are getting hundreds of thousands, some even $1+ mill from NIL in college.
That's crazy.
https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/inside-the-college-football-nil-market-how-much-players-at-each-position-are-actually-getting-paid/

Big in the CFB news this week is about the Tennessee QB who rejected his $2M/year offer and demanded a $4M/per deal.

[*ochocincos*]

(04-14-2025, 07:19 PM)SunsetBengal Wrote: Big in the CFB news this week is about the Tennessee QB who rejected his $2M/year offer and demanded a $4M/per deal.

I was just talking to my father about the Vegas Crown college basketball tournament that was happening recently, and he was wondering why colleges were getting paid to participate.
I didn't have the heart to tell him all college athletes can get paid now and some a huge amount of money.
He hates that any college athlete gets any money.

[SunsetBengal]

(04-14-2025, 07:22 PM)ochocincos Wrote: I was just talking to my father about the Vegas Crown college basketball tournament that was happening recently, and he was wondering why colleges were getting paid to participate.
I didn't have the heart to tell him all college athletes can get paid now and some a huge amount of money.
He hates that any college athlete gets any money.

I get that they're entitled to some revenue that colleges were gaining from their participation, but demanding huge contracts is getting out of hand.

[*bfine32*]

(04-14-2025, 12:50 PM)BFritz21 Wrote: Draft him and let Burrow, Hill, Chase, and other vets that they need to show leadership and support him.

Not baby him or be assholes to him, but just let him know that they have his back but he’s playing with the big boys now, so he has to grow up.

Like they did with Burton?