When Sisyphus Took a Breather

The NFL’s season of hope marches on. The biggest names of free agency may have signed those names to bloated contracts. But the draft is still a month and a half away allowing fans of each team to continue to dream big or small.

The Combine’s forty times and vertical leaps are posted and in the books. Scouts now crisscross the country evaluating prospects at pro days, arraying every last measureable to arm themselves for war room debates during the last weekend of April.

Prospects are rising. Jason Smith, the tackle from Baylor, Darius Heyward-Bey, the receiver from Maryland, and Everette Brown, the pass rusher from Florida State, to name a few.

Questions surround the top quarterbacks. Can Stafford or Sanchez save your franchise? What of Josh Freeman, the live arm from Kansas State?

Possibilities abound. Could Michael Crabtree end up on the same NFL roster as Darren McFadden? Will Detroit select a quarterback and elite left tackle with their two first rounders a la Atlanta a year ago? Which USC linebacker – Rey Maualuga, Brian Cushing, or Clay Matthews – will storm the league? Which will flame out?

Perhaps the significant promise and uncertainty of the season underscores any impending tragedy all that much more.

If it’s not clear, I’m talking specifically about Andre Smith this year.

The big tackle from Alabama, the elite talent in large part responsible for the Crimson Tide’s National title contention until the final weeks of last season, is in the midst of a tumble down many draft boards. While unfortunate given his talent, Smith’s fall is certainly not unprecedented.

In 2008, Malcolm Kelly and Brian Brohm both dropped out of the first round into the later half of the second. Kelly, the Oklahoma playmaking receiver, fought injury in the scouting season, then ran an unimpressive forty at his pro day while immaturely blaming coaches and trainers for his poor results. Brohm, the Louisville quarterback once considered a number one overall pick, struggled to disprove critics about his arm strength and down senior season.

In 2007, Brady Quinn and Alan Branch toppled from top programs to first round afterthoughts. Quinn, the Notre Dame quarterback, waited painfully for his name to be called under the glaring lights of Radio City Music Hall. Branch, the Michigan defensive tackle, faced questions about his health and conditioning, unable to regain elite status in scouts’ eyes.

In 2006, Matt Leinart and LenDale White slid in different measure. USC’s quarterback and running back, respectively, a team that competed for the National Championship just months before, Leinart fell to ten because of a loaded draft class while White fell to the second round because of poor conditioning and a pissy attitude.

In 2005, Aaron Rodgers and Luis Castillo lasted until the end of the first round despite top talent. Rodgers, the quarterback from Cal, confronted a dearth of quarterback needy teams. Castillo, the defensive tackle from Northwestern, owned up to steroid use that scared many teams away.

Scouts are complaining about Andre’s flabby body, suspect strength, and lack of motivation. The only thing keeping in the conversation is his excellent play on film and obvious talent.

The hesitations are enough to knock Smith down millions in the payscale. But at some point the risk of his talent will match up with a more modest contract and a team will take a chance on him.

Only draft weekend will tell how far Smith will fall. And only Smith’s reponse to his tumble will give us any indication if he’ll end more like Castillo and Rodgers (playing to promise) or like Branch and Leinart (benchwarming).

One of the surprising aspects of a trainwreck, like Smith’s extended NFL interview, is how difficult it is for outsiders to fathom his underwhelming, at time bizarre, effort. Whether that’s going AWOL form the Combine or ditching his in-season training regimen in the most important months of his football life. But like any trainwreck, no matter how incomprehensible, we find it hard to look away.

We think of football players as living large lives because they occupy so much of the public eye, not just in terms of how much of the camera’s frame they take up. But often these players exist in a bubble from high school to college, from college to the pros.

Small circles form. Talent dictates desires. Shared dreams run roughshod. Preset plans envelope telling signs. Dreams feed more dreams.

Then the bubble pops, suddenly, at the moment these dreams should be taking form.

Maybe it comes down to the truth that Andre is blowing our dreams, the ones we’ve had for him, not his.