Chad Zumock joins the show to talk sports talk radio – WFNY Podcast – 2015-09-04
September 4, 2015Corey Kluber scratched due to hamstring, Josh Tomlin to start vs. Tigers
September 4, 2015There will always be more of us than them. And, the higher up the competitive ladder one climbs, even more are added to our ranks. The quarterbacks and the star wide receiver might get their name in the paper. The linebacker with the sacks and the cornerback with the interceptions will play to the crowd and bask in the adulation. But we are there too. We put in hours and hours of offseason training, practices, and matched up with players who were constantly bigger, faster, stronger, and just plain better than us. In exchange for the abuse, we received a field level view of the game and the personal pride to know that however small a part of the team we might have been, we were part of that team.
We are the scrubs of every football team in the country.
No football team can operate without its scrubs. A starting offense does not prepare for a game by operating against air. The quarterback cannot read a three deep or cover two safety that is invisible. Nor can a starting defense prepare for the intricacies of the upcoming offense without players running at least a haphazard approximation of the gameplan for them to scout. That scout team offense likely is missing the playmakers and precision that they will face, but just seeing the machinations is a time-proven exercise every coach in the country uses.
So there is an inherent value into being one of those scrubs. Sure, data analytics might call these guys sub-replacement level, but they would need to be replaced. Especially in the harsh physical sport that is American football, being that supposedly replaceable body willing to put themselves in harm’s way at practice each and every week is a noble act.
I am a scrub. I am not afraid to make that statement. I began playing football in my sophomore year of high school after my mother finally tired of my begging to make an attempt. I was not the most physically gifted child, nor did I play organized sports other than wrestling. So, naturally, the coaches threw me into the offensive line group. There I could use my knowledge of leverage and hand skills without being overly exposed to my lack of speed, quickness, and power (most of the time). Of course, make no mistake, I wasn’t good enough to ever start.
My favorite memories were actually from October of my junior year in high school. I was on junior varsity, which despite the name is something that a junior in high school should not be on unless he is not a good football player (or goes to a great football program, which I did not). Those teams were fantastic because what we lacked in skill, speed, or numbers, we made up in determination. A band of usually 13 players, we made a pact to never leave the field unless absolutely necessary. Timeouts were on the field; at halftime we would sit in the endzone. Since we were lacking in bigger bodies and my only real strength was my conditioning, I was usually one of the eight or so players that never stepped outside the chalklines from kickoff until the end. I don’t even remember our record that year. I just remember being exhausted on Saturday mornings. And happy.1.
So, I have a special place in my heart for the scrubs of the NFL. Those players were likely the stars of their high school and even college teams. They were the ones fawned over and cheered rambunctiously for years, while other scrubs helped them prepare. However, those players found that the life of the scrub was around the corner when they reached the pros. No longer were they the best athletes, no longer could they outplay everyone simply by showing up or even by working hard. Nope, up a level, now they were the scrubs. Some NFL coaches might not even bother to learn the names of everyone, so they affix it across their helmets. Or, perhaps they had even reached the NFL in their younger years and found stardom. However, as injuries or age eventually caught up to them, to the scrap heap they were thrown. At some point, you see, we all become scrubs.
WFNY’s Will Gibson mentioned recently in an interview with a NFL scout that approximately 1,500 NFL players are cut every preseason of every year. And even among those who are not cut, there is some undrafted free agent who will do everything he can to stay on that roster and who might even find a measure of success for a little while, as Josh Cribbs did as a quarterback-turned-returner. Some of those 1,500 players will work their way onto another team’s practice squad, keep working, and eventually might even make it onto the team, as Lance Moore did with the Saints. Others might need to go find a secondary job bagging groceries or moving furniture before making their way back onto a team the next year; just ask Kurt Warner how his Hall of Fame career began. But the vast majority of those 1,500 players will simply go and find a lesser way to play football. Maybe they’ll return the next year to be scrubs again for a NFL team knowing they are more than likely just helping that team prepare for the season.
The NFL preseason is coming to a close and the reward for these players is now done, that reward being the final nationally televised preseason game where the stars sit and the scrubs shine2. The next few days will be tense for some, but understood by all as NFL teams cut down their rosters. As fans, we are all excited for the beginning of another NFL season. But, please take a moment to acknowledge those players who put in so much time and dedication with little chance that any of it would be richly rewarded.
Thank you, NFL scrubs. I’m a scrub too.
- To finish the story, yes, I did earn a letter my senior year. It took our nose tackle tearing his ACL and my defensive coach shrugging and saying, “Why not try Bode?” along with some dedicated playbook study and impromptu drills on the sidelines during games as I had only played linebacker to that point in my “career.” But, I did play enough quarters to letter, so there is that. [↩]
- Let’s hear it for Josh Lenz!!!! Captain of the 2015 Cleveland Browns Scrub Team! [↩]
3 Comments
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Nice. I’ve tried to stop myself from saying about anyone on a pro playing field “that guy sucks.” He is actually elite, by definition, just for being invited there. I learned this years ago in the field of music, where some of the best musicians i ever heard couldn’t cobble together a viable income from their talent because of the even greater talent with which they competed and the finite opportunities. I saw it playing in various sports leagues against guys who had played college ball or minor league ball (try guarding someone who’s been a point guard at a small or medium size college – it’s a revelation how unskilled and slow you are).
You rarely hear pro athletes describe another less-talented pro in demeaning terms. They know how many talented players they managed to step over to get where they are, and how much of an edge thay must maintain to avoid being replaced.
I’m elite at sitting on my couch passing judgment.