NFL: The Last Snap

It happens every year in the summer. Several high school, college, and pro players do their best to avoid it: the last snap. The last time that you’re in full uniform, competitively playing the game you’ve loved all your life.

Some high-school players play well enough to push back the last snap and advance to the next level and are recruited and signed to play for major colleges.

Some players aren’t so lucky and have to accept that they’ve already had their last snap.

There are a few who have to play the role of walk on and outperform other players to advance to the next level and push that last snap further away from them. 

Several of those college players play three or four years at a major university.

Hopefully, these kids have developed the foundation of their game and played well enough and showed enough promise to be on the radar on NFL scouts, or they’ve played their last snap.

Collectively, the scouts do a decent job of giving sports fans the strengths and weaknesses of these potential prospects and even how their talent translates to the pros.

There will always be talented college players; even stars in college that don’t make it to the pros.

This crop of players that have played well enough in college and have displayed this talent further during bowl games, college All-Star games, the annual scouting combine, and individual campus workouts are blessed enough to advance to the next level and hear their names called in the annual NFL Draft.

Some feel that the hard work is over, and that they’ve made it to the highest level and now embark on their new occupation as professional athletes.

That can’t be further from the truth, and the need to avoid the last snap has actually increased. These young athletes need to concern themselves with mastering their craft and longevity.

The list of athletes who didn’t heed this message is huge, but Ryan Leaf and Akili Smith serve as examples of players who would do things totally different if given the opportunity. They're financially secure, but they’ve played their last snap.

These talented NFL rookies are set to make a name for themselves in minicamps with their new teams, and further their development as players through professional coaching.

These guys are the beneficiaries of said coaching, and they’ve just merely scratched the surface of the hard work that lies ahead of them.

The NFL does a very good job at the NFL Rookie Symposium of explaining to the rookies the importance of being a professional, taking care of their newfound wealth, and putting together a personal team of professionals to assist them with handling almost every issue and circumstance that may arise.

The league puts together several classes in life skills, money management, and even brings in current and former players explaining the circumstances that await them; imploring those new players not repeat their mistakes.

The league even teaches the players the importance of working with the media.

Despite all the work the league does to avoid it, trouble seems to find some of its players.

The summer is also the most dangerous time of the year. A time for you to stay focused on the task at hand, which is the upcoming season, or you will unexpectedly jump on the expressway to your last snap.

There is no such thing as a slow month anymore in terms of players running afoul with the law. June has been the worst month.

According to a report for The San Diego Union-Tribune, there were 42 players arrested in the month of June this decade, which is staggering.   

There are the charges that are typical: Driving under the influence, marijuana possession, and possession of a firearm.

Then we have charges like domestic violence and disorderly conduct after a nightclub fight, which aren’t typical, but have been happening at an alarming rate.

We have to accept the fact that the criminal landscape of the sports world in general, and the NFL in particular, is so close knit that it shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone that these things happen right before training camp.

Several players head back to their respective hometowns to decent-sized parties, just to find out that the wrong element has gathered, and the recently signed player becomes a target for some madness to happen to them.

Other players get loose in various clubs, and perform the act of dropping a fistful of cash for all to see and are often face-to-face with the wrong element or people with far less to lose than the athlete.

Some of the wrong element feels jealous and somehow disrespected that the athlete is there with so much more money and gaining more attention than them, or merely that they’re a target to exploit.

Money means different things to different people.

Athletes have to realize that nine times out of 10, wherever you go, the wrong element is there.

This makes the professional athlete a target. The majority of this element can really care less if said target is a high-profile athlete or not. They’re all about the business of getting paid by any means necessary.

The athletes are out of their environment and don’t need to be there. If the player does choose to go out, rolling with security is a must, in order to make sure that the athlete returns home safely.

The athletes have to realize that they’re in the public eye the entire time they’re not at home with the door locked.

I’m not saying athletes shouldn’t go out and have a good time. I’m just saying that you can’t go to all of the places you used to go to and hang out with all of the people you used to hang out with.

Your life has changed; proceed with caution. As an athlete, your job is to learn, grow, develop, and mature as a ballplayer and a person.

We can blame a player's issues on his upbringing, his surroundings, not knowing how to manage his money, or our society; avoiding the obvious conclusion, a young adult making a bad decision.

The goal should be to constantly develop and improve in several areas of his life and seek to be the best.

If this isn’t an athlete’s focus, and the athlete is not heeding the words from his family, friends, coaches, teammates, and management team, he will have prematurely reached his last snap.