Different levels and types of immaturity. This dates back to college. Vernon wasn't an underachiever. Vontae was. The big difference between Vontae and Vernon is that there was at least a time before the NFL where Vernon wanted it badly, held himself to a higher standard, put in the work, and tasted what it's like to be the best (Consensus All American). Vontae has not. He's been the guy who has coasted on talent. They're brothers, not identical twins, so we can't say that just b/c Vernon developed into a stud that Vontae will too. The "brother connection" stops at sharing an extreme level of talent. If you want to draw any parallel between Vontae and a brother, it's with his younger brother, with both of them perhaps having difficulty controlling their actions or displaying responsibility.
No, there are other unprepared, undisciplined, unprofessional, irresponsible paid athletes out there who also show up out of shape. Unfortunately for Vontae and them, that's not the standard that Philbin or any well-run, Championship caliber franchise would use to hold their players to. It's just excuse making. It's being accepting of mediocrity. How many SB caliber teams do you operate with the mentality of "others slack and do it so it's ok"? Vontae showing up out of shape is sending the message that it's ok to skate by on talent alone. It's being the complete opposite of a leader by example, when instead the most talented players should be your top leaders by example. It's a square peg in a round hole. Do you believe he doesn't get paid enough to where he shouldn't have to worry about improving his conditioning during the offseason?
that's how I felt when we drafted him, Clean. (I like McLean btw. you like McLean? ) However, 3 years & 1 preseason later, I personally don't give him that same benefit of the doubt. He's gotta want to mature and become a responsible, dedicated professional, and I've seen nothing showing he's remotely close to wanting that. It almost seems as though he's become more complacent now (regarding relying on talent) than he was as a rookie. It seems to me that his ultimate goal was to make it to the NFL and get paid playing football rather than dedicating his life to the game. Why would that type of mentality need to change when he can still play the game as a starter and make millions doing so? I could understand if he needed time to "get it" as well as time for the game to slow down, but it seems with Vontae that he just doesn't care to get it, nor does he seem to care about putting in the effort to take his game to the next level. It's gonna take something serious to wake him up and provide him a greater sense of purpose IMO (maybe something like being cut, suffering a serious injury, hitting the point where he realizes his talent has declined, or perhaps becoming a father, none of which might not happen before he's near 30, so IMO his 24 years of age works against him b/c he could very well still be far away from his "maturity date", if it even happens at al).
I would love to know why. I don't see this as a mistake. Honestly. Vontae was moved because his possible upside was elsewhere and not here.
IMO, if 3+ years isn't enough time for a player to get his head on straight, he can become someone else's problem, especially if I can recoup some draft value for him. IMO it's less important to care how a player performs compared to the rest of the league than how he performs compared to his own capability & potential. I wouldn't want any chronic underachiever on the team regardless of how he compares to the NFL's baseline.
He will never be elite, funny thing is this is what he said when he was drafted: Never happened and never will.
good riddance, that kid wont get it until its far too late...... one less under-performing bum ! Got a top 50 pick too ! Keep on stockpiling picks baby !
