Troublemakers and Their Worth

So the NFL lockout is over. Pretty anticlimactic. I loved it back in March when ESPN ran around like a chicken with their head cut off when the NFL officially locked out. All of these talking heads predicted apocalypses or reduced game seasons or a variety of other things that generally did not include training camps essentially starting on time and the NFL missing zero meaningful games. Well I was there. I was there to ridicule those drama queens at ESPN and told them to shove their doomsday predictions. This isn't the NBA where teams are legitimately losing money. This is the NFL where everyone prints their own money. In this economy you don't walk away from that guarantee.

So here we are, the owners and players approved the CBA, not giving enough time to actually have the hall of fame game on August 7th but in time to have every other meaningless preseason game and this lockout will be forgotten the second it ends. This lockout just brought out the full force of negatives of that 24 hour sports media cycle. Everything is so reactionary, that hardly any sports "journalist" stops to think for a moment. It was March when the NFL locked out. As much as people might care about long drawn out free agency negotiations or stupid ass OTAs, the reality is missing those things in March, April, May, and June is not taking any money out of anyone's pockets and the fans really don't miss it.

I have absolutely no hard feelings about this lockout and I doubt anyone in America really does either. People are excited about the up-tempo free agency period we had this year and what it means for real and fantasy rosters. In addition to free agency signings you also have the cut list, holdouts, and trade demands. It's in that second area I wanted to focus a little bit. In that area you have overpriced under performing players, overpriced aging players, mental cases, overachieving underpaid players, locker room cancers, and players with an irrational sense of their worth.

The first guy I wanted to talk about what James Harrision. Look at him here outrunning the entire Cardinals offense in Super Bowl 43.


The guy is a good player and has been the NFL's defensive player of the year before. He definitely earns his money and doesn't have on-field issues. He has off-field issues, mostly running his mouth. In years past he has sparred with league commisioner Roger Goodell over the violent hits policies that have been enacted. He even went so far as to claim he will retire instead of playing in Goodell's league. This kind of behavior is childish but at least isn't detrimental to the team.

No, he's started to do negative things with his own team now. Last month he made comments that placed the blame for the Steelers losing Super Bowl 45 squarely on the shoulders of the Pittsburgh offense, most notably Roethlisberger and Mendenhall, calling them out for their turnovers. This of course overlooking the fact that the defense gave up 24 points of its own, gave up a nearly back-breaking 10 play 5+ minute drive at the end of the 4th quarter, and allowed Rodgers a 111 QB rating.

The problem with these kind of comments is two-fold. First, it just makes you look like a crybaby in media and leaves you completely open to ridicule. It's just poor form on its own.

Second, and more importantly, it makes you a horrible teammate. Sports are all about teams. Ask the Mavericks or ask the Giants. Those two teams probably didn't have the most talent in their respective leagues but they won championships with tight knit teams that worked together and won together.

Now the Steelers have to wonder if there is some tension in the locker room, the players will have to continue to answer questions in the media about chemistry and other things that take away focus from winning. Even though they are professionals ans used to the scrutiny it wears on you. Just ask Brian Orakpo of Redskins. Before Albert Haynesworth was traded this offseason he told the media straight out he was tired of answering these questions about Haynesworth and didn't want to answer them again. The solution? Get rid of Haynesworth. Haynesworth was definitely not worth the distraction because he made no effort on the field.

For me, if I was Pittsburgh I wouldn't make too drastic of a change with Harrison. Sure he's a douchebag crybaby, but hes good on the field and Pittsburgh is one of the consummate professional teams like New England. They just know how to work.

The next guy I want to talk about is Dez Bryant. Here is a picture of him doing things Roy Williams can't do: catch a football.


Dez Bryant is another guy who looks like he will be decent on the field but he may some attitude and personal issues off the field. First was the whole training camp shoulder pads incident. Last year during Bryant's rookie training camp he was asked to participate in some routine rookie hazing: carrying a veteran's shoulder pads. Instead of keeping his mouth shut and doing what a rookie should do, he said he isn't doing that, that that's not what football is about.

A football team has to be like a family. Playing team football is more than just athleticism. In no other sport does chemistry and trust mean more than in football. There are 11 players on the field at a time and so many moving parts designed to collaborate into a single play. Dez Bryant needs to learn that. A little rookie hazing goes a long way towards endearing you to the veteran players and keeping a loose locker room. Instead, Dez created a distraction (not hard to do in a Cowboys uniform) and probably some animosity among his fellow offensive players. Of course, Dez got his hazing in the end when Roy Williams saddled him with a dinner bill for $55,000.

Beyond that Dez has noted maturity issues with money. His rookie contract is for 11.8 million, with 8 million guaranteed over 5 years. It sounds like a lot, especially since there is no state income tax in Texas, but the federal government comes in and takes 39% assuming no Enron accounting. Then you have the lavish lifestyle associated with being an NFL rising star, meaning you buy a shit ton of jewelry, and other things. Dez is allegedly on the hook for failing to repay over 850,000 dollars in jewelry and tickets he "bought". No one is taking him on for endorsement deals and his handler Deion Sanders, a guy who could make Dez a lot of money, dropped him. All of these things are serious red flags.

This is starting to remind me of Terrell Owens all over again. Unbelievable talent, can't get out of his own way. Granted Dez has generally kept his mouth shut, but as anyone who listened to me after the 2010 draft knows, I was very worried about how long Dez would be a Cowboy given his off field issues and lack of professionalism and maturity. He's worth the headache as long as he his producing, but if he doesn't turn into a Top 5 or Top 10 WR over the next few years id be happy to drop his ass.

There are other notable problem children, names who actually did get shipped out by their teams: Chad Johnson Ochocinco Johnson and Albert Haynesworth. These are also All-Pro supreme talents who just can't get out of their own ways and they were deemed expendable. These were good moves by both the Bengals and Redskins. As i mentioned above football is the most team oriented of the team sports. You dont need superstars to win (Just ask the Bears and Seahawks) you need a good team that functions well together to win. These names and the several others I haven't mentioned are all excellent players but they may just take more off the table than they put on.