Every year, football coaches use a classic – and eyeroll-inducing – cliché: [Insert rookie here] is going to do well because all he has to focus on now is football. Or: Football is his job, so it’s his only focus.
Usually, I hear that line and don’t think much of it. First: Not every young NFL player adapts to having football be his job. A lot of rookies struggle to develop the kind of routine and work ethic needed to make it in such a cutthroat league.
But also…for a lot of players in college, football was their job.