Athleticism over Talent

The issue I have with athleticism over talent is in this league injuries are dang near a guarantee. There have been numerous players drafted high because of amazing athleticism only to fade out of the league and vanish whether because that’s all they relied on, injuries, bad personalities, or just couldn’t mentally process the NFL game because they never had to develop the mental aspect of the game.

Jamarcus Russel, Josh Gordon, kevin white, RG3, Vince Young, every LB we drafted under Ditka (except Fields), and so many others had amazing athleticism but little talent and never developed the work ethic to obtain talent.

Not always but most of the time, players with talent can over come injuries, mental lapses, bad decisions. Because to get talent you have to work for it, rarely is talent god given, it’s time, blood, sweat, and tears poured into developing it. That’s what made Drew so good, he was short, not super strong, and had to develop accuracy, timing, body control, to over come his shortages. Putting in that time and dedication made him great. Players born with pure athleticism don’t feel the need to put in that time because they’ve been able to dominate with sheer ability their whole life and haven’t developed the work mentality it takes to be great at the highest level.

If you can luck out and find a player that has both, then sit back and be amazed.