Last year, ESPN covered Myron Rolle, defensive back from Florida State. Originally projected as possibly a late 1st to 2nd round pick, Rolle saw his draft stock plummet to being selected in the 6th round by the Tennessee Titans in the 2010 NFL Draft. Why was this, because teams questioned his commitment to football when he chose to better himself by accepting the Rhodes Scholarship and studying for a year at Oxford. Now, the talk about how a player’s intellect may effect his football career has risen around Alabama QB Greg McElroy. McElroy scored a 48 out of 50 on the NFL’s Wonderlick test at this weekend’s NFL Combine. He was also a finalist for the Rhodes Scholarship. Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk.com stated that overly intelligent players could pose as a detriment to their NFL coaches because supposedly a coach can’t be in command if he’s not the smartest guy in the room.

The more I hear these stories, the more it angers me. On one hand, teams claim they want smart guys or intelligent players. Well these guys are as smart as they come and yet you fee “threatened” by it…SERIOUSLY? Maybe if there were more guys like this, the NFL’s contribution to the national crime rate may actually decrease. I thought the idea of a college player was that they are “STUDENT athletes?” Notice the word “student” is first which means the obtaining of knowledge is first! I would think someone as intelligent as these remarkable athletes would know their place on the team. Who cares though, the 6’5 QB with DOCUMENTED incidents of ACADEMIC FRAUD couldn’t possibly have any character flaws…could he?