"Blaming NFL for Aaron Hernandez mess is laughable" - By Ross Tucker

[Principled Man]

Excellent essay by Tucker. IMO, he nails it right on the head.

 

 

Blaming NFL for Aaron Hernandez mess is laughable (Ross Tucker, The Sporting News)

 

 

Stop. Just stop.

 

That'd be my succinct message to Geraldo Rivera, Rush Limbaugh and any other major media personality swerving way out of their lane to take turns bashing the NFL in the wake of the Aaron Hernandez murder saga.

 

Their comments are akin to me talking from a bully pulpit about the fiscal cliff or Obamacare, which is to say it wouldn't be pretty. I don't know enough about either to speak intelligently on them in a public forum. The same goes for Rivera and Limbaugh regarding Hernandez and the NFL.

 

Yet their voices carry weight. Not only do they have big platforms, but my sense is their opinions mesh with the majority of Americans in light of the ongoing drama involving the former Patriots star tight end.

 

Here's the money quote from Rivera:

 

“I don’t know why the league who recruits these kids from the inner city, how they don’t have minders, how the agents who are collecting 10 percent of $40 million, where are they in all of this?” Rivera said on Fox News recently. “Why aren’t they mentoring these young men who are fatherless, many of them—Ray Lewis and all the rest. Michael Vick. Uh, you can count them. There’s a ton of them. They sign them because they’re superb athletes and do nothing to preserve their character and put them on the right road toward manhood. It’s really pathetic.”

 

He couldn't be more wrong, and I'm not even talking about his factual errors regarding agents (the maximum percentage an agent can receive is 3 percent) or new player acquisition (players are drafted from universities, not recruited from inner cities). It's his basic premise regarding what the NFL does or doesn't do that bothers me. In fact, I'll argue as a former player the NFL already does more than enough for its players in this regard. Too much, if you ask me.

 

Not only do drafted players go through an intensive four-day Rookie Symposium that serves as the ultimate job orientation, but they have continuing education. Lessons are force fed to rookies and subsequently served up on a lesser (albeit still mandatory) basis to veterans through their time in the NFL.

 

Sitting through a seminar on domestic abuse my rookie year in the NFL was borderline insulting, let alone hearing the same message five and six years later. I got it. I wasn't going to hit a woman. Ever. Understood. My parents taught me that when I hit my older sister at age 4.

 

But I knew the seminar was necessary. I learned that early in my career, when after one such 45-minute session the presenter asked if there were any questions. I started to get out of my seat. In my mind, the presentation was over. How could anybody possibly have a question about the message to never ever hit a woman no matter what?

 

Yet the presenter called on a veteran, one of our best players, who raised his hand.

 

"That's all well and good," he said, "but what happens if the (expletive) hits you first? I'm not just gonna stand there and take that (expletive)." Several others shouted words of encouragement and affirmation, and I sat back down in my seat, wishing I had a Snickers because it was going be a while.

 

For a large percentage of players in the NFL, these sessions are repetitive, unnecessary and tedious. For a small percentage, especially young players, there is nothing more the NFL can reasonably be expected to do. You really think the NFL should be able to do in three months what their parents apparently were unable to do in 22 years? I've also heard people ignorant of the NFL player process espouse the theory that the NFL should learn more about these guys before drafting them.

 

Please.

 

Other than maybe the CIA or Secret Service, I can't imagine many prospective employers doing a more thorough job researching new candidates than the NFL. The league does a background check on every player. Most teams do more. And that doesn't include the college scouts whose job is finding out as much information on these players as humanly possible. Then they are interviewed by coaches and executives. Over and over again.

 

The bottom line is teams have all of that information available to them when making the decision on whether or not to select a player. The Patriots gambled by taking Hernandez in the fourth round and won ... until they lost. That's how it goes a lot of times with players that have off-field concerns.

 

The psychology of the selection process for players with so-called red flags like Hernandez is fascinating. What message are the Patriots sending when they select a first-round talent like Hernandez in the fourth? They're saying they don't care whether or not they acquire a player with good character, so long as they get the player at a spot deemed to be of value and not as risky of an investment as a first- or second-rounder.

 

What does that infer? They like the player a lot, otherwise they wouldn't have drafted him. But they are going to wait until the fourth round, because they know there is a high probability he will get in trouble. Otherwise, they would have selected him earlier based on talent. It's a game many NFL teams are willing to play, but if you roll the dice enough times, odds are you're going to lose. The Patriots just did in a major way.

 

In fairness, I don't think any NFL team felt Hernandez was capable of getting into this situation. Yet there reportedly were some franchises that removed him from their 2010 draft boards due to associations with some nefarious characters in his hometown of Bristol, Conn.

 

The NFL can't do a much better job researching prospects or helping them avoid pitfalls during their career. My experience tells me the league is pretty much maxed out in both of those areas.

 

I prefer what I call "top down rehabilitation." What does that mean? That means the only thing left to do in order to send a loud-and-clear message is to fine, suspend and expel players as frequently and severely as necessary until everyone either gets the message, or all of the guys prone to mistakes are thrown out of the league.

 

In all sincerity, who needs them? Certainly not the NFL. This is a league that continued to flourish and see television ratings soar in years without Tom Brady (2008) and Peyton Manning (2011). If the NFL pressed on without two of the greatest players who ever lived, does anyone think it needs any of these other guys? Of course not.

 

I told Commissioner Roger Goodell as much when I met him for the first time in April, 2008. As a guy who just retired, I applauded the stance he took with Pacman Jones, the late Chris Henry and Tank Johnson. Jones had been suspended the entire 2007 season, while Henry and Johnson had to sit out the first half of the year.

 

As far as I was concerned, good riddance. I still feel the same. Why give a roster spot to a serial trouble-maker when there always is someone in waiting almost as good, if not just as good, who will do things the right way?

 

Lest you think I am totally heartless, I am willing to acknowledge these are young men and that there is no "Idiot's Guide" to being young, rich and famous. Think about your friends and what they would have done at that age with that money and fame. It is an experiment bound to go wrong a certain percentage of time.

 

That's why I wouldn't throw them out of the league for a first offense, depending on the nature of said offense. The punishment should be harsh, though. There is no excuse for any of these guys. They went to the symposium, aka the "No Excuse Camp." Say you're sorry, take responsibility, but don't dare say you didn't know if you would get in trouble.

 

If you attended the symposium, you knew, because they cover it all. The repeat offenders? See ya later. That's why the message coming from the likes of Limbaugh and Rivera, and maybe even you, shouldn't be that the NFL better prepare these guys or give them more resources. That's hogwash.

 

The real message should be to encourage Goodell to throw the book at these players and send a clear signal to every fan, parent, player and media personality in this country - behavior of that kind will not be tolerated in the NFL.

 

It's the only viable option left.

 

 

:haz: :haz: :haz:

[Turbine Freight]

Agree totally. Good piece that. Thanks for posting.

[Ancient Ways]

Good article. I do disagree about why they take players who were in trouble in later rounds. The number one reason is money, not because there is a good chance they will get in trouble. They know teams are going to hesitate to draft them and if they take them later they can pay them less. The part where they are afraid the player will get in trouble later is handled by morals clauses in the contract that allows teams to recoup money (again, it's about money) if the player violates these clauses.

[Principled Man]

Good article. I do disagree about why they take players who were in trouble in later rounds. The number one reason is money, not because there is a good chance they will get in trouble. They know teams are going to hesitate to draft them and if they take them later they can pay them less. The part where they are afraid the player will get in trouble later is handled by morals clauses in the contract that allows teams to recoup money (again, it's about money) if the player violates these clauses.

 

I think you and Tucker are saying the same thing. A draft pick's character flaws will almost always cause teams to draft him in later rounds. The Patriots didn't want to shell out 1st round pick salary (and signing bonus) to a player who might only be with the team for a short time. As it turned out, they only had to pay him three years' worth of a 4th-round pick's salary.

 

The Rams didn't follow that logic in 1996, when they drafted that punk Lawrence Phillips with the 6th overall pick. They paid him good money (at the time), and he rewarded them with more criminal charges. :crazy: :crazy:

[Rick N. Backer]

Interesting video of Tom Brady after the Broncos playoff game a couple of years ago saying that Hernandez, and Brandon Spikes, were "a lot to handle." You have to go to another link from below and skip to the 1:30 mark.

 

http://www.massholes...BpmjHLw.twitter

[treeduck]

I never give true answers, I never tell no lies

I never walk a straight line, Roger Goodell is not surpised

 

They pay me the money and I do the job

I got a contract on Rog

I got a contract, on Bill

 

I never ask no questions, I never speak my mind

I always found that silence helps to keep me and my kind alive

I take care of business, It takes care of me

I look after myself and do it well

'cause the police have been looking for me

 

They pay me the money and I do the job

I got a contract on you

I got a contract on you

 

What manner of man am I?

A gun, lump sum and then I move on

What manner of man are you?

Stab a friend's back to jump a queue

 

I do what I do 'cos I can't do nothing better

I used to be a tight end now I've got a tight end, just defendin' myself

 

Belichick got nothin' better to do

 

I got no face, but my name's Hernandez, I'm a killing machine

I cut the population down, if you know what I mean

I never stop in one place, I move about the NFL cities

Got expensive tastes, but I hasten to add that

I'm the best that there is

 

Rog and Bill pay me the money and I do the job

I got a contract on you

I got a contract on you

I got a contract on Rog

 

Bill I got no contract with you

Bill I'll put a contract on you