The Myth Of The "Diva Like" Wide Receiver

Over the past few years I've seen fans say that wide receivers always had a different type of attitude. Which, is interesting because I remember watching some of the greatest receivers to play in the NFL and I don't remember anyone having such an attitude as some of the wide receiver's this decade have shown.

I've watched Jerry Rice, Andre Reed, Cris Carter, Michael Irvin, Tim Brown, Herman Moore, etc...Yet, I can never remember any of them having that moment where they do something to draw attention to themselves unless it was for something that was positive and needed to have attention drawn to it.

It started with Terrell Owens in San Francisco who went to the media to criticize his coach Steve Mariucci and his own quarterback Jeff Garcia. Owens made headlines when he scored touchdowns in Dallas and went to dance on the star at midfield both times.

Owens then was traded to Philadelphia and his mouth cost him again. The team that he disrespected so many years ago brought him in and Owens got jealous that his quarterback threw more to Jason Witten then him.

When Owens became a free agent from the Cowboys they no longer wanted him either. He instead signed a one year contract with the Buffalo Bills, where he still making headlines by calling out Romo, even though just the year before he defended Romo while trying to hold back tears.

It hasn't been just Owens though. There's been Joe Horn who brought out a cell phone and acted like he was making a phone call.

There's Braylon Edwards who got in a fight with a friend of Lebron James' apparently because he was jealous of the success that James has.

Chad Ocho Cinco/Johnson has gotten himself into some trouble for his antics on the field as well. Including wearing a jacket that pretty much stated Future hall of famer xxxx, his name change, he did the Lambeau leap in Green Bay, etc...

Brandon Marshall has wanted more money from the Denver Broncos or to be traded. Michael Crabtree thought so much of himself that he was willing to sit out.

Yet, let's put it in a different context. There are currently 32 teams in the NFL and must teams carry anywhere between five or six wide receivers on the roster. Let's just say that average is five.

It's time to do some math so we multiply five times 32 teams and the answer is 160. So, there's 160 wide receivers in the NFL at any point in time on the roster. I named Owens, Marshall, Ocho-Cinco, Crabtree, Horn, and Edwards.

That's six names out of 160 wide receivers. To get the percentage of that is you divide six by 160 and you will find that 3.75 percent are what is considered "diva like." So round up that means four percent of the receivers behave in a way that the media has dubbed "diva like."

That means 96 percent of the wide receivers are not "diva like." So here's the question that I'll put out there and that is did the media perpetuate the myth that NFL receivers are "diva like?"