Alexander
What's it going to be then, eh?
- Messages
- 62,482
- Reaction score
- 67,294
Sheldon Rankins is Mr. Boring: Why this excites execs
Sheldon Rankins remembers one moment in his life where he was undeniably in trouble.
He was 6 years old back home in Atlanta, practicing wrestling moves he'd seen the week before on Monday Night Raw. He loved the tag team of Jeff and Matt Hardy, known as the Hardy Boyz, and was mesmerized by their finishing move: The Swanton Bomb.
The Swanton Bomb (pronounced Swan-Tawn) is a top-rope maneuver that involves a delayed front flip before the Hardy boy crashes down onto his opponent. All four limbs need to be extended outward, giving the appearance of a flying bird.
The Rankins living room did not provide the same type of freedom and movement space. The couch was not as high as a regulation turnbuckle. Perhaps that is why Rankins' foot nailed a part of the front window on the way down, cracking one of the glass panes right down the middle. Before his mother, Cheryl, could see it, he attempted to cover the act with the curtains.
"I got in a little trouble for that," said Rankins, a versatile defensive linemen projected as a first-round pick in the 2016 NFL Draft. "I think my mom just wanted me to say something about it."
Other than that, Rankins has nothing to feel bad about. He doesn't go out too often. When his agency, Exclusive Sports Group, was helping him connect with a banker who could finance an auto loan for his first car, they were stunned by the results of a credit check because there was no credit. The banker, who regularly works with college athletes coming into the NFL, said it was one of the first times a report came up completely blank: no credit cards, cell phone bills, cars, emergency medical bills. He could have successfully vanished from the planet if he lost his social security number.
And that's just the way Rankins likes it. Boring in a good way. All about football.
As we approach another draft, that sort of clean slate is coveted by agents and players alike, and certainly affects the decision-making process for general managers. For Rankins, he says it's natural. But in a frenzied push for draft-stock growth, some will merely accept a well-constructed façade that comes at a steep financial price tag and ends up potentially muddling the evaluation process. Character concerns have altered the NFL in a significant and irreversible way. General managers and scouts who have always viewed character and talent as Yin and Yang are spending more time than ever grilling equipment-staff members, teachers, assistant coaches, parents and teammates to try and find out what is really going on.
"I'm just not one of those guys who gets away from home and starts acting like he wasn't raised by people with common sense," Rankins said. "It wasn't really a sacrifice for me, but I knew what I wanted to do. I came here to play ball and get to the next level."
At the 2016 NFL Scouting Combine alone, media in attendance watched as one promising prospect, Robert Nkemdiche, hurled his former teammate and likely top-five pick, Laremy Tunsil, under the bus by saying Tunsil was there when Nkemdiche fell out of a fourth-story window and eventually was charged with marijuana possession. (Nkemdiche denied using marijuana.) Nkemdiche later walked the comments back in an interview on NFL Network -- saying Tunsil was with him in Atlanta, though not in the hotel room when the incident occurred -- but further damage to his reputation had been done.
Nkemdiche is part of a lengthy list of players who keep scouts up at night. Personnel types can answer, without hesitation, questions about height, weight, speed, hand size and arm length. Yet, they all struggle with the most basic human question: How can we tell if he is a good person?
How will that play out on the field, and how can we measure one's effect on the other?
How can anyone?
http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap30...ains-hotelwindow-fall-says-tunsil-was-present
-
- By Conor Orr
Sheldon Rankins remembers one moment in his life where he was undeniably in trouble.
He was 6 years old back home in Atlanta, practicing wrestling moves he'd seen the week before on Monday Night Raw. He loved the tag team of Jeff and Matt Hardy, known as the Hardy Boyz, and was mesmerized by their finishing move: The Swanton Bomb.
The Swanton Bomb (pronounced Swan-Tawn) is a top-rope maneuver that involves a delayed front flip before the Hardy boy crashes down onto his opponent. All four limbs need to be extended outward, giving the appearance of a flying bird.
The Rankins living room did not provide the same type of freedom and movement space. The couch was not as high as a regulation turnbuckle. Perhaps that is why Rankins' foot nailed a part of the front window on the way down, cracking one of the glass panes right down the middle. Before his mother, Cheryl, could see it, he attempted to cover the act with the curtains.
"I got in a little trouble for that," said Rankins, a versatile defensive linemen projected as a first-round pick in the 2016 NFL Draft. "I think my mom just wanted me to say something about it."
Other than that, Rankins has nothing to feel bad about. He doesn't go out too often. When his agency, Exclusive Sports Group, was helping him connect with a banker who could finance an auto loan for his first car, they were stunned by the results of a credit check because there was no credit. The banker, who regularly works with college athletes coming into the NFL, said it was one of the first times a report came up completely blank: no credit cards, cell phone bills, cars, emergency medical bills. He could have successfully vanished from the planet if he lost his social security number.
And that's just the way Rankins likes it. Boring in a good way. All about football.
As we approach another draft, that sort of clean slate is coveted by agents and players alike, and certainly affects the decision-making process for general managers. For Rankins, he says it's natural. But in a frenzied push for draft-stock growth, some will merely accept a well-constructed façade that comes at a steep financial price tag and ends up potentially muddling the evaluation process. Character concerns have altered the NFL in a significant and irreversible way. General managers and scouts who have always viewed character and talent as Yin and Yang are spending more time than ever grilling equipment-staff members, teachers, assistant coaches, parents and teammates to try and find out what is really going on.
"I'm just not one of those guys who gets away from home and starts acting like he wasn't raised by people with common sense," Rankins said. "It wasn't really a sacrifice for me, but I knew what I wanted to do. I came here to play ball and get to the next level."
At the 2016 NFL Scouting Combine alone, media in attendance watched as one promising prospect, Robert Nkemdiche, hurled his former teammate and likely top-five pick, Laremy Tunsil, under the bus by saying Tunsil was there when Nkemdiche fell out of a fourth-story window and eventually was charged with marijuana possession. (Nkemdiche denied using marijuana.) Nkemdiche later walked the comments back in an interview on NFL Network -- saying Tunsil was with him in Atlanta, though not in the hotel room when the incident occurred -- but further damage to his reputation had been done.
Nkemdiche is part of a lengthy list of players who keep scouts up at night. Personnel types can answer, without hesitation, questions about height, weight, speed, hand size and arm length. Yet, they all struggle with the most basic human question: How can we tell if he is a good person?
How will that play out on the field, and how can we measure one's effect on the other?
How can anyone?
http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap30...ains-hotelwindow-fall-says-tunsil-was-present
