WT 360: Devin Thomas Is In The House; Malcolm Kelly Sightings

[JCav06]

I assume that all the people who are ripping DT for missing a few voluntary workouts have never missed a day of work in their lives. He's not skipping 2 weeks of training camp to hang out with his buddies. This isn't that big of a setback people. Quit worrying.

[rebornempowered]

Just to let everyone know. They do have weight rooms and work out equipment in Michigan. I have seen them myself. Next time I am up that way I will take a picture for you.

[Dah-Dee]

I could care less about the time.

It's an attitude.

He's in the bigs now and the choices he makes will affect his career if he/you like it or not.

I agree with this and am concerned about what seem to be recurring concerns, voiced in the media, from 'sources' about Thomas's lack of work ethic. Here's what I said in the 'JLC on Thomas' thread:

The question for him isn't "Do you want to be great?" -- it's "Are you willing to do what it takes to be great?" As fast and athletic as Thomas is, he'll never be as good as he should be unless he 'wants it' as bad as, say, some guy with a 4.7 40 from Mississippi Valley State:

"Rice is remembered for his work ethic and dedication to the game. In his 20 NFL seasons, Rice missed only 10 regular season games, 7 of them in the 1997 season, and the other 3 in the strike-shortened season of 1987. His 303 games are by far the most ever played by an NFL wide receiver, and are only 72 games behind the NFL record for games played by any player. In addition to staying on the field, his work ethic showed in his dedication to conditioning and running precise routes, with coach Dennis Green calling him "the best route runner I've ever seen." Also known as one of the best blockers at his position, there was no aspect of playing wide receiver at which Rice did not excel."

Wikilinky

Seems like the 'great ones' are the guys we always hear, like Rice, had to be dragged out of the film room, off the practice field. We shouldn't need to have these debates about whether a high draft pick is doing enough to prepare for the season or the next game. What happened to competitive drive, the will to win, the desire to excel? Holy crap, if I'd ever had that kind of talent I would have set up a tent and lived on the freaking football field. These guys drive me crazy with their excuses-posing-as-reasons. They're too busy spending too much money, playing around and 'relaxing' way more than is reasonable, to respect the talent that made it possible. Disgusting.

To help things hit a little closer to home regarding Jerry Rice and what Thomas (and Kelly, for that matter) should be striving for with every breath they take, here's a quote from Hall-of-Famer Ronnie Lott:

"Art Monk was an example for Jerry Rice. That's what Jerry always told me."

[/end venting]