Keenan Allen already considered quitting the NFL

[RelaxImaPro]

Talk about an entitled sounding diva...

 

The toll most players pay when reaching a new level, from high school to college, college to the NFL, is patience. It's fewer reps. It's working on the scout team. It's standing on the sideline, waiting for opportunity that, in a season, can come at any time or, just as easily, never at all.

 

Some pay their dues in stride.

 

Keenan Allen, as a competitor, couldn't bear it

.

The Chargers rookie loves football but hates the sideline. That hate festered this year to the point, he said Wednesday, he seriously considered quitting. In August, he was on the fence and sought guidance. In September, he was on the brink. He looks back now, a front runner for NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year, yards from a new franchise record, days short of the regular-season finale.

 

"It's crazy," Allen said. "I came a long way."

 

When the 6-foot-2 wide receiver arrived as a freshman in Berkeley, Calif., the five-star prospect from North Carolina was regarded as the nation's best safety and his state's top recruit. He did not stand on the sideline.

When he came to San Diego, he did.

 

The Chargers were fairly deep at wide receiver this April when drafting Allen in the third round. They believed he was a playmaker, of which they could not have enough, and from the spring on, they coached the 21-year-old hard in practice. He worked behind veterans, and be it for nuances in route-running, an occasional drop or maturity issues Allen has acknowledged having grown from, he struggled at times over the months.

 

Allen leads the team with 957 receiving yards. On Wednesday morning, he spoke to his mother on the phone, wishing her a Merry Christmas.

 

Their September phone call during training camp was very different.

 

"'I need help. I'm losing. I'm about to quit,'" Allen recalled Wednesday in the locker room. "(I wasn't) living up to my expectations of starting. I've never been a role player-type guy. Not easy at all. ... I've never had to do it before. I never had to adjust."

 

She advised him to pray.

 

He did and chose to wait.

 

That concept of waiting had worn on Allen. A productive three-year career at California ended in October 2012 with a knee injury. He announced in December his decision to turn pro a year early. He believed in his abilities. He wanted to contribute. He never was a third-round pick in his mind. He certainly wouldn't ever be a reserve.

 

Rest of the story here: http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2013/dec/26/keenan-allen-chargers-quit-nfl-rookie-of-the-year/

 

Figured I'd post this here since a lot of people had a hard on for this guy during the draft.  All I'm saying is... maybe there was a reason we didn't take him in the 2nd even though we spent more time with him than any other organization pre-draft, despite having needs at receiver.

[TheRumGone]

that's really fuging retarded.

 

that reeks of entitlement...

[cardiackat88.]

I don't think this was that rotten.

 

I mean, the man was picked in the third round, by a team with decent WR depth...so the article says.

 

Maybe he was just worried he would never see the feild, and that before deciding to quit, he would not be resigned and out of  a job altogether in a few years.

[RelaxImaPro]

These dudes really don't realize how good they have it sometimes.  You've got to pay your fuging dues as a rookie, and even if you don't get the nod at the beginning, so what?  You're making FAR more sitting on that bench than you would doing anything else in this world... and you get to play a game that we all love for fug's sake.

 

I don't know, I love the sport... but sometimes some of the athlete's attitudes about it really rub me the wrong way.  I think I can safely say about any one of us would give anything to be in his position.

[DaCityKats]

i think thats what separate these guys from us regular guys.

[mav1234]

I think it's weird for him to freak out like that, but meh.  He's young, he's allowed to think stupid poo - he didn't act on it, and he got advice from someone with a little bit of perspective. Good for him.

[FootballMaestro]

This is not as weird as it sounds. It happens. 

 

Victoria Azarenka; the current #2 ranked, 24 year old tennis player; famously told her Grandmother she wanted to quit at 20 yrs old, cause she wasn't having the success she expected up until that point (though she was already in the top 10-20 by then, but needed to improve her game to get better/win more). 

 

Currently, she has won two majors, and counting. 

[RelaxImaPro]

I don't know, that just seems like a red flag to me.  Even if you get those thoughts, holy poo keep them to yourself.  That's definitely not something you go public with as a fuging rookie of all people.

 

It just makes me wonder how he might be in the locker room with his teammates.

[FootballMaestro]

I don't know, that just seems like a red flag to me.  Even if you get those thoughts, holy poo keep them to yourself.  That's definitely not something you go public with as a fuging rookie of all people.

 

It just makes me wonder how he might be in the locker room with his teammates.

Yeah, Azarenka definitely was a little unstable. However she did Calm down and get better two years later for two years. 

 

As of late, she's been inconsistent. So it should be curious to see how she bounces back at the moment?

[DaCityKats]

a 5 star recruit, that started and got extensive playing time as a true freshman and changed positions. he went from that to a back up on a team that had decent depth in front of him, so it was like a culture shock to him.

[Mr. Scot]

If the story is that he's getting better, it's not a bad thing overall.

 

You have to remember the vast majority of the guys that make it to the NFL have been treated like gods pretty much ever since they started showing athletic talent.  Add in that they're used to being the unquestioned best player on the field.  When they get to the point where everybody is as good as they are and they actually have to work to keep their jobs, it can be a shock to the system.

 

Some have enough stability to handle it.  Some don't.

 

It also depends on the situation they wind up in.  Allen is probably lucky he went to the Chargers as opposed to, say, the Raiders.

[MichaelNewtonII]

Where's the "why did we pass on keenan allen" threads like the alshon ones?

Sent from my SGH-T399 using CarolinaHuddle mobile app

[Davidson Deac II]

Did any of you read the second page of that article?

 

Its actually a relatively positive article, and if the article is accurate, I wish we could have gotten him.  

 

 

Already, he owns the Chargers' rookie record with five 100-yard games in a season. Their last rookie to have back-to-back 100-yard games was Don Norton in 1960. Allen, from the brink and back, has done it twice.

To win is first and foremost. To catch Jefferson, though, "would mean a lot, just from what I came from," Allen said.

He doesn't believe in rookie mistakes — no player is perfect. There are lessons, though, essential to learn.

He'd tell a young player what he was taught: Keep going. Pay the toll.

"Don't give up," Allen said. "Patience."

 

[AceBoogie]

Did he quit? Nope he went on to possibly win Rookie of the year. He was man enough to say it. You don't know how many players think about quitting or walking away from the game. Hell Greg Hardy wasn't even trying before Ron got here.