NY Times
By ASSOCIATED PRESS
June 22, 2013
N.F.L. rookies may have experienced sensory overload while digesting playbooks that make “War and Peace” look like a comic strip.
Now, they are about to receive what the league vice president Troy Vincent calls “tools to succeed and to sustain themselves during their playing experience.” But, Vincent insists, the information will be presented in a simplified, concise manner.
All 254 players drafted in April have been invited to the Cleveland area for a rookie symposium, which runs from Sunday to Wednesday for A.F.C. choices, and Wednesday to Saturday for N.F.C. picks. Vincent, a star defensive back for 15 seasons and now the N.F.L.’s senior vice president for player engagement, believes the series of seminars, one-on-one sessions, panel discussions and frank conversation is essential in making the transition to the professional life.
“It was too much information we were giving them in the past, way too much,” Vincent said. “At that particular time, when they left the symposium in the past, they were a couple weeks away from training camp and they were going through information overload. We’ve had to find creative ways to get our message out, tally what we learn from each drafted rookie class and think how we can become more accessible and visible and build our credibility.”
One way of doing that is by inviting veteran and retired players to tell their war stories. This year, that also includes two players who have had run-ins with the law: Adam Jones, also known as Pacman and now with the Bengals; and Tank Johnson, formerly with the Bears, Cowboys and Bengals.
Jones pleaded not guilty this month to an assault charge, and repeatedly has had off-field issues resulting in suspensions. He missed the 2007 season on suspension and sat out 2009 when no team was interested in signing him.
Johnson once served a two-month jail term for violating probation from an earlier gun charge when he had unregistered firearms in his home.
Vincent said it is imperative to offer all viewpoints and past experiences to the incoming players. So Jones and Johnson will join the former players like Aeneas Williams, Mike Haynes, Brian Dawkins and Chad Pennington — all with impeccable résumés — in mentoring the rookies.
“Adam and Tank provide the realities of our game,” said Vincent, a former president of the players’ union. “We want to give a balance. We are going to have teammates who struggle with something and must overcome something, and we overcome it together. These men share their stories to teach and to educate.
“What we like to say is the risks are real. You are now a pro athlete. Everything is public knowledge about you, and you are at risk, and it is important to really strike the right balance. We will have our success stories and also those who have had risky behavior.”
Four core principles will be covered at the symposium: league history, total wellness, professionalism and experience.
All of that on top of learning plays, team philosophies and systems before off-season training activities and minicamps ended could have the rookies’ heads swimming.
Vincent hopes the symposium is a collaborative experience for the 254 novices.
“You can truly share your thoughts, intimate thoughts about the game and your life,” he said. “They are looking for role models and they are looking for guidance. We don’t come boasting, we come asking them to fully engage in the conversation. Not to just hear stories, but to let them talk and to ask questions. We encourage asking.”
Among the most frequent questions is how much different life will be in the N.F.L. compared with college. Speakers like 49ers tight end Vernon Davis, the former linebacker LaVar Arrington and the 1991 Heisman Trophy winner, Desmond Howard, will relate stories about the nature of professional sports.
“We always say at this level you now go from potential to production,” Vincent said. “In college, a student-athlete is referred to as someone with high potential. At the N.F.L. level it is about daily production, physically and mentally.
“Where someone has been able to get by with athleticism before, now there are people looking to identify your greatest weakness and expose it. How do you handle that?”
Vincent does not want N.F.L. newcomers thinking it is all work and no play. Of course, if you do not do the work, you will not get to play, whether you are left tackle Eric Fisher, the top overall choice by Kansas City, or tight end Justice Cunningham, No. 254 by Indianapolis.
And the vast majority who will attend these symposiums have a short shelf life in the N.F.L. It is critical to get that point across, because, generally, these young athletes have not thought beyond the next few snaps.
“We are not here to be dream killers,” Vincent said. “We have to be realistic, though, and you are now on the clock. So, of the drafted rookies, less than half will still be around three years from now. That doesn’t mean life stops; it better not. While we are introducing them to the N.F.L., we’re also talking about life after football.
“And there will be nothing these young men who come from all different walks of life have been through that one of us has not been through. There are life lessons that need to be learned right from the beginning.”
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