NFL Minicamps - Draftee Hell? | Vipee1's Blog

Alright people and NFL insiders, lets look at this scenario. This could apply to any player at any position, but for this scenario lets use a wide receiver.

You're a brand new, sparkling, fresh, right off the lot NFL draftee, and you head to mini-camp. You're full of fire and confidence and want to show your new employer just what it was they drafted, and you're going all out running routes, just wowing the brass with your speed and athleticism and the brass is sitting there patting themselves on the back, saying "wow, look at this guy, he's going to be a superstar, the next Jerry Rice, the next TO, the next Randy Moss".

So you're there, blissfully running your routes, on top of the world. In the middle of a route you make a cut. There's not a player within 20 yards of you, but you go down like Rodney Harrison just laid you out like a freshly pressed shirt, and you're writhing around on the ground, your ACL and your promising career now in tatters.

So what happens now? You're unsigned and the millions of dollars you should be making have just disappeared. My question is this: How in the hell can these agents, who are so quick to have their players hold out during training camp until they've procured the best possible contract and squeezed every last dollar possible out of the team, allow an unsigned player to attend these mini-camps?

I don't think the above scenario has happened yet and it might not happen soon, but mark my words, someday, somewhere, it will happen. And what happens next? Because it does happen. You hear of guys going down like this at least four or five times a year, not a soul near them, but they suddenly drop faster than Brady Quinn on draft day.

Now we all know that these guys are insured to the hilt, and not to pick on the aforementioned Mr. Quinn, whose drop in draft position cost him millions, but the insurance amount must pale in comparison to what they would get as a first round draft pick and how much their career earnings would be if they do happen to pan out and become superstars. And when this does happen, the poor guy to whom it happens is not only going to lose millions, but his livelyhood as well.

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May 15, 2007 09:27 AM ET

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You're absolutely right that this could happen, and players are aware of it. That's exactly why the team puts insurance in place (as you mentioned) -- just in case something like this happens. Any draft choices not yet under contract are not required to do the mini-camp, and cannot be fined for refusing to attend. Still, I agree that the insurance payout for a career-ending injury would be so much less than the career earnings, but you have to figure that these players are risking their career every single time they take the field. It's a gamble, and one that most players are willing to take. The odds of a serious injury in mini-camp are actually relatively low (even if it's four or five times a year, as you suggest, that's out of well over 1500 players in the NFL), and the odds of that injury actually ending a career are positively miniscule.