Charles Rogers, dead at 38. The age hits you: Rogers only got to live half a life. It’s fair to wonder if he even got that.
He was the No. 2 pick in the NFL draft but only played 15 games. Rogers was a big-time talent who couldn’t stay on the field and struggled to figure out life off of it. You could watch him run one route and think “wow, this is so easy for him.” That was the least accurate and most unfair thing you could say.
“From the outside looking in, a lot of people, they pass judgment on athletes because they believe you were given this special ability,” former Lions teammate James Hall said Monday.