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A lot of media folk struggling to come up with quality story ideas aren’t happy with the way Myron Rolle’s been treated. In the weeks leading up to the draft, the former Florida State safety was grilled by representatives from more than a few teams about whether he was committed to a future in the NFL. And then, on draft day, a player who after his last college game was projected to be a first-day pick slid all the way into the sixth round.
Why? Because Rolle might very well be too smart for the NFL. He “walked away” from the Seminoles in 2009, taking a Rhodes Scholarship at Oxford University.
The Buccaneers staff — including head coach Raheem Morris — asked Rolle in February what it felt like to desert his team. Rolle has since said that his commitment has come into question on multiple occasions.
How dare teams question his commitment to football? Right? How dare they move him down their draft boards? Right? The guy graduated from FSU in two and a half years! He’s a good egg — he doesn’t deserve to have his heart questioned.
Right?
But it’s important to remember that a sharp mind doesn’t always equate to a strong heart. In fact, it could be problematic. The smarter you are, the more career options you have. Rolle isn’t just a football player — there are probably better things he can be doing with his time on this planet.
It’s for this very reason that, in some places, prospective police officers can be rejected simply for scoring too high on an IQ test. There’s a belief that brilliant minds are susceptible to boredom in jobs that don’t offer enough stimulation. Playing safety might not be enough for a person like Rolle.
Of course there’s also a chance that it will be. There’s a chance Rolle will be a very dedicated NFL player for years to come. But that doesn’t mean general managers and scouts and coaches don’t have the right to ask the question.
“The impression I get from people around the NFL – not necessarily in it, but around it – is that the NFL wants players for whom football is their No. 1 priority, their No. 2 priority and their No. 3 priority,” Rolle told Yahoo! Sports’ Jason Cole in February. And that’s how it should be, considering how much money these players make.
This isn’t about what’s good or bad, it’s about business. The NFL is a billion-dollar business; the drafting of players is a million-dollar business. Every draft pick carries with it a financial commitment that goes beyond the guaranteed money that a player receives. Careers are on the line. A bad pick or two can cost an executive his job.
The people making these decisions need to be certain — or as certain as they can be — that the player they draft is going to stick with the game of football, regardless of what their concern stems from. It could be a drug addiction, a shady past, or a high IQ.
Rolle, after all, has already gone on record saying he wants to attend medical school after his career. Who’s to say that a few bumps and bruises — or a concussion or two — wouldn’t be enough to push him in that direction sooner, rather than later?
So if you’re looking to draft a player like Rolle — or a player with drug problems or alcohol issues or a criminal record — you want to be sure that football is that player’s number one focus.
It also doesn’t hurt to fire somewhat jarring questions in a player’s direction to see how he’ll react. From a psychological standpoint, how will this guy respond to being asked such a question? Will he lose his cool or will he display the maturity we’re looking for?
Of course, there are limits to how far you can go. But teams that asked Rolle about his allegiance to pigskin didn’t cross that line.
There’s a good chance Rolle becomes a solid NFL player and the Titans lucked out with the 207th pick Saturday. But that doesn’t mean teams didn’t have the right to ask the question.
