12/24/24
April 28, 2010
Player Rejects NFL Offers Because He Wasn't Drafted: New Hampshire running back Scott Sicko has received several offers from NFL teams to sign as a free agent, including the Dallas Cowboys, but he's decided to quit football because he wasn't drafted. "For me, it's one of those things that if a team had drafted me, I feel they would have been more committed to me," said Sicko, who will instead go to graduate school to study either education or history.
Oops. Drama queen.
posted by rcade at 11:41 AM on April 28, 2010
See also. Favre-style waffling or no, pretty awesome name.
posted by holden at 11:47 AM on April 28, 2010
"For me, it's one of those things that if a team had drafted me, I feel they would have been more committed to me," said Sicko, who will instead go to graduate school to study either education or history.
I guess, in light of jjohn24680's update, it would seem that Sicko wasn't all that committed to graduate school.
posted by lil_brown_bat at 11:55 AM on April 28, 2010
Knowing when to hang it up has to be difficult for an aspiring professional athlete. Sicko's original decision -- that if he didn't get drafted he wasn't valued highly enough to make it in the NFL -- is hard to argue with.
posted by rcade at 12:23 PM on April 28, 2010
Right, I just saw a passing blip online that said: "Sicko signs with Cowboys"
I didn't realize at first that the blip referred to the player actually named Sicko.
So initially, I really didn't give it much thought, because I figured it could have referred to any one of a number of guys in any one of a number of years. At a glance, it just seemed like another day at the office.
posted by beaverboard at 12:28 PM on April 28, 2010
While he was questioning whether or not teams valued him enough to draft him, if I were the Dallas Cowboys offering him a chance to come as an undrafted free agent, I would be questioning his commitment to football. He seems to be ready to give up too easily for someone who I want on my team. I believe Kurt Warner was at one time broke and bagging groceries. It a good thing he did not give up so easily and didn't question the opportunity to enter the league as an undrafted free agent.
Drafted or not, it is what you do when you get to camp that determines what kind of career you will have.
posted by Atheist at 12:37 PM on April 28, 2010
it would seem that Sicko wasn't all that committed to graduate school.
He's committed to not being committed.
posted by BornIcon at 12:47 PM on April 28, 2010
He seems to be ready to give up too easily for someone who I want on my team. I believe Kurt Warner was at one time broke and bagging groceries.
That is ridiculous, Atheist. That was the same criticism of Myron Rolle who has a plan for a legitimate career when his football career is over. If you are going to bag groceries if not for the NFL, then you will be a good football player. If you have a brain in your head and can possible imagine a non-football career that pays more than minimum wage, you lack commitment. Practice squad football is not much of a football career, unless you have watched Rudy way too many times.
posted by bperk at 12:53 PM on April 28, 2010
This is a very different take on Sicko than Peter King had a couple of days ago.
"He said he had no bitterness, no anger at teams for not picking him. But when he thought about a football life on the edge of a roster -- possibly an itinerant life of an undrafted free-agent, working out day after day to try to get a shot in an NFL camp, or moving from one NFL practice squad to another, or possibly being on an active roster -- it didn't jibe with the life he wanted to live."
No idea whose story is closer to the truth, but it feels like he just answered the questions he was asked and the two reporters spun it differently. It's hard to blame a kid for being disappointed and making a rash declaration at 21 or 22 after years of hard work. Him changing his mind isn't necessarily indicative of a lack of commitment; it could show a level of maturity to be willing to suck it up and eat crow.
Full disclosure: I live in New Hampshire, but have little loyalty to the local teams.
posted by yerfatma at 02:43 PM on April 28, 2010
"For me, it's one of those things that if a team had drafted me, I feel they would have been more committed to me," said Sicko
...and now he's changed his mind. Ayuh, that's the New Hampshire way alright.
Same full disclosure as yerfatma, but I limit my disloyalty to UNH. The rest of them are OK.
posted by Howard_T at 02:53 PM on April 28, 2010
Watched this kid light up the UMass defense when they played in Amherst this year (10 catches 145 yards and 2 TDs). Heard that there are some concerns about his hands being a tad hard for the TE spot, but from what I saw down here, the kid was a man among boys that day.
posted by Demophon at 03:29 PM on April 28, 2010
bperk - for me the issue was not about an choosing alternative career. It is clearly about whether you believe in yourself and want a pro career bad enough. Regardless of where or if he was drafted really has little bearing on whether he can make a team. So either you are willing to try to make a team or you are not. Yes the money is different but nobody regardless of draft position is guaranteed to make a spot on the roster so in the end yes it is about commitment to play.
If it is apparent that you cannot make a team then of course a sane individual recognizes they may need a back up career, but to hope to be drafted and then not be, and then decline an opportunity to show the Dallas Cowboys and every other team that they made a mistake by not drafting you, does seem like a lack of confidence or commitment, because giving it a shot doesn't stop you from continuing your education in another field.
posted by Atheist at 03:59 PM on April 28, 2010
Maybe he was afraid people would ask if his mom was a prostitute.
posted by wfrazerjr at 04:21 PM on April 28, 2010
I think he heard that if he's picked up he'd earn more in 1 season at league minimum than he would if 10 years with a career in education or history
posted by bdaddy at 05:44 PM on April 28, 2010
Full disclosure: I live in New Hampshire, but have little loyalty to the local teams.
My Son goes to UNH and feels the same. I don't get it.
posted by smithnyiu at 06:12 PM on April 28, 2010
"He's committed to not being committed. " His fiancee might disagree.
posted by Newbie Walker at 06:57 PM on April 28, 2010
My Son goes to UNH and feels the same. I don't get it.
My body resides here. My heart remains in RI (it's in Providence Plantations every other weekend).
posted by yerfatma at 08:36 PM on April 28, 2010
Playing in the NFL is a good way to die young or grow old in a lot of pain. Smart kids think twice about their future.
posted by Hugh Janus at 08:50 PM on April 28, 2010
Which is why it's confusing this is a UNH grad.
posted by yerfatma at 09:26 PM on April 28, 2010
Well UNH is the University of No Hardware
posted by Demophon at 08:32 AM on April 29, 2010
In the interests of equal time, my home state's university is known as "UR High". Works both ways.
posted by yerfatma at 08:44 AM on April 29, 2010
I live in Nashua, NH. My son turned down a scholarship from UNH, saying that he just wanted to go somewhere other than "University of Nashua High".
posted by Howard_T at 03:16 PM on April 29, 2010
UPDATED: 3 pm ET: FoxNews.com is reporting that Sicko has changed his mind and signed a free-agent deal with the Dallas Cowboys.