*FAN SUBMISSION from Steve Siebenaler of Chicago, Illinois. Follow him on Twitter @ChatNFL and Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/
From now until training camps commence at the end of July, NFL teams will be conducting their rookie mini-camps and OTAs (Organized Team Activities). This will keep players fairly busy, but until training camp starts at the end of July, every team will be dreading that feared call from a law enforcement officer or lawyer, saying their player has been arrested.
DUIs, gun possessions and assaults abound in these charges, but you will also get prostitution (Quinton Groves, Browns) and gambling cheating (Quinton Carter, Broncos). Some of these charges get dropped, (Q. Carter’s did), but there is obviously a big problem keeping these young guys with lots of money to spend out of trouble.
Courtesy: Boise Weekly.com
Former Lions and Rams (for 10 days) wide out, Titus Young (Sr.) was arrested twice in less than 15 hours (DUI and attempted armed robbery), probably costing him a job in the near future with an NFL team. This is a rare case, but a prime example what happens to some players without the structure and regimen of the franchise, during the offseason.
As reported by the San Diego Union-Tribune (http://www.utsandiego.com/
What can a team do? They can set guidelines and teams rule and conduct policies, but these are grown men who do what they want when they want, and they have the resources to do as they wish. They can assign babysitters to Dallas’ Dez Bryant and do what they can for lesser profile players, but every team has to weigh the risk/reward attributes of each player they bring on.
Courtesy: USA Today
The issue comes down to character. They can do all the pre-draft vetting and talk to all the old teammates and coaches they can get their hands on, but even that feedback has to be taken with a grain of salt. The best athletes aren’t always the high-character ones. Especially in a violent sport like football, a player has to have an aggressive edge to be able to excel to such a height as the NFL.
This personality attribute that helps them excel on the field can lead to problems off it and teams have to gather as much information and references as possible to make sure a player is worth the investment and isn’t going to let the team down with time off the field not due to injury. It’s already begun with Cardinals’ linebacker Daryl Washington. He had a superb season in 2012, but was already going to miss the first 4 games of 2013 for a substance abuse violation, and now has been arrested for assaulting his girlfriend… The other teams await their risk/reward character results….
