By Ronald N. Guy Jr.
Don’t let the title concern you, this isn’t about
politics, per se. What it does address
is how technology and the current political environment have invaded the NFL
Draft and left NFL executives grappling with inescapable facts.
I was raised to tell the truth. “Bad news doesn’t age well” was the underlying
advice. Made a mistake? Admit it, own it, request forgiveness and
move on. At best, carefully spun webs of
lies, built to obscure undesirable facts, only delay and increase the
pain. At worst, exposed elaborate lies
break trust and ruin reputations.
But there was always a youthful interpretation and
application of that clear direction – because shades of gray were possible. I grew up in a world where indiscretions
could often be effectively messaged, if not completely concealed. It was still a he said/she said time – no viral
pictures, videos or social media trail.
In other words, unless you screwed up big, there was rarely hard
evidence of typical adolescent excursions.
Thanks to Steve Jobs and the proliferation of
handheld, 24/7 everything devices, we are now under constant surveillance. Add a little Mark Zuckerberg with various
other social media offerings and suddenly a whimsical thought, frustrated
expression or momentarily immature declaration is on the record - forever. The content of yesterday’s conversations –
because they were spoken face-to-face or over the phone – could be debated; today’s
typed words and recorded acts cannot.
The NFL’s pre-draft navigation of this new social
dynamic has been fascinating. Not long
ago NFL executives focused only on a prospect’s football measurables. “Character research” was little more than a
token interview and a few reference checks (parents, coaches, etc.). And if there was a blip on the resume, teams
could overlook it without concern of a viral media storm.
That era of innocence is gone.
NFL executives adapted to present day realities, where
their prized draftee can suddenly be caught in compromising YouTube videos or
undermined by unbecoming Facebook posts from years before, by cranking up the vetting
process and becoming obsessively risk averse.
It was an understandable response – why gamble your career on a “troubled’
kid when everyone knew, courtesy of modern media, that you knew prior to the
draft that he was potentially the next Todd Marinovich or Ryan Leaf?
But if the recently concluded NFL Draft is any
indication, the winds of change just blew through NFL boardrooms. Leonardtown native and Cleveland Browns GM
John Dorsey picked crotch-grabbing, drunken-police-dodging QB Baker Mayfield with
the number one overall pick. The Buffalo
Bills selected Josh Allen seventh overall, despite the discovery of racially
insensitive tweets from high school. And
the Arizona Cardinal used the tenth pick on Josh Rosen, a prickly cat who seems
more Jay Cutler than Peyton Manning.
I get it. No
endeavor in life is without risk and ultimate success often requires a few
well-played wildcards. But I haven’t
seen NFL teams so willing to accept risk this high in the draft and at the
franchise pivot position of quarterback in a long time. Is this the Trump Effect? Has the POTUS set a new normal for behavioral
transgressions? Is what’s passable in
politics now passable for the NFL?
That’s a serious question – politics aside. John F. Kennedy wouldn’t have gotten away
with his personal blemishes had they been exposed in the early 1960’s. Bill Clinton barely survived a relationship
with an intern in the 1990s. Now the
president is having affairs with porn stars…and the predominant response to
this one-time atrocity is an unremarkable “meh”.
This isn’t necessarily a moral commentary on society,
but it does indicate that we’ve grown more accustomed to – and less shocked by –
the truth. You can’t hide from it
anymore, so individually – as voters, NFL executives, parents and ordinary
everyday citizens – we are left to parse known human imperfections, subject
them to our own values or situations, and decide what is tolerable. It’s an adaptation more than a shift or
decay…but I still wouldn’t want my folks or prospective employers having full access
to all the undeniable facts of my youth.
Who would? Maybe that’s one perk
of middle age…
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