Unfinished Products Expected to be Great

I don’t know about you, but I know that I was not fully formed as a professional entering my field when I was 21. Hell, when I was 21 I was actually still in school getting the preparation I needed to become a professional in my chosen occupation.

Even at 31, I was not a fully developed professional; I still made a lot of mistakes.

Today as I am in the midst of the first week at a new job, at the tender age of 36 on the cusp of turning 37…I am still learning and growing and changing.

I know, I know. I am in the field of education and not in the field of professional athletics. Believe me, I am made aware of that fact each and every day as I look at my bank account and my car.

I still feel, though, that the point in my lede stands: expecting someone to be a fully developed, fully formed professional when one is barely old enough to drink in most circumstances is ludicrous.

Yet when it comes to professional sports, and football in particular, that ludicrous notion seems to be the expected norm.

The need by NFL personnel people and supposed draft analysts and experts in the media to justify their existence is risible. Character is a concern for one player because he may have had off the field incidents and accusations…and yet it is also an issue when someone appears to be too good to be true.

Arrogance is bad except when it’s good, and being humble and leading by example is a weakness because that soft spoken guy can’t possibly command his unit on the field.

This Unnamed Scout guy sure gets around, and he apparently has a negative opinion about everyone in the league. It’s a wonder that anyone actually becomes a competent football player in his eyes. Makes me wonder what, exactly, he is looking for.

I just worry that the accelerated time line is not putting incoming players into the best position to succeed. Be it a quarterback, a corner back, an offensive lineman; it doesn't really matter the player. The virtue of patience has been abandoned to serve unrealistic expectations more often than not.

I don’t know if there is truly a solution to this; I think the sport has evolved to the point where the margin for failure has been whittled down to a nub. The need/desire to win is NOW and development for the future is just a vestige of the past.