The Eagles rookies are in Florida this week at the NFL's rookie symposium. It's been a week of learning for the youngsters as they were exposed to all of the issues that come along with playing in the NFL.
Most of these young men are going to have money for the first time in their lives. It's an opportunity to make a lot of mistakes, so they've got to grow up quickly.
Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin spoke to the group of rookies and he didn't mince words. Tomlin talked to them about developing the proper attitudes and habits.
This year they've had second-year players talk to the rookies about what they experienced last year in their rookie seasons.
New York Jet tight end Dustin Keeler talked about dealing with his family who all of sudden thought he had an unlimited amount of money. I've seen money-hungry family members side track a lot of players.
Atlanta Falcons second year cornerback Harry Douglass explained how he dealt with his family and friends game ticket demands. Douglass basically limited his game ticket purchases to accommodating his family and close friends.
Everybody else had to go purchase their own Falcons tickets just like everybody else. I've seen players walking around in frustration in the locker room before a game because they were getting unreasonable ticket demands from family members.
St. Louis Rams defensive end Chris Long talked about being frugal with his money. Long said he kept every dollar he could in his pocket and refused to try to impress others with his spending.
I know quite a few Eagles players through the years who have had to borrow money from the team in the off season because they had gotten out of control with their spending.
Of course we know of many players who wind up broke when they finish playing.
Zach Minor, who is a life coach put together some skits for the players. He dealt with what he called "frienemies". That term describes people who approach the players as friends but in truth are enemies because they want to get the players involved in bad things.
Minor talks about how "frienemies" can be family members and long time friends. He stressed how things change when people start thinking the player has a lot of money on them.
They also talked about dealing with women. I hope they spent hours and hours on the ladies because I've seen a lot of young players let women destroy their careers.
Some of the rookies especially the big guys have never gotten a lot of attention from the opposite sex. Once they sign for the big money, all of sudden women start finding them attractive.
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