Cris Carter / Photo: Newscom

Cris made poor decisions in his own life, dealing with alcoholism and addiction. But he managed to pull himself together to become one of the league’s best receivers of all-time. And now he can speak from experience—and from the heart—about what it takes to be a success in the NFL:

“I was here when Ryan Leaf was here. But also I was here when Michael Vick was here. And I sat up here and talked with Plaxico Burress. And Pacman was sitting right there, too. I seen all these kids come through the National Football League and every one of them—I tried to tell them the truth—and every one of them looked at me and said, ‘You know, Cris. It ain’t gonna be me. It ain’t gonna happen to me.’”

Source: NFL.com

Post from: Every Morning Quarterback

Cris Carter Warns NFL Rookies at Symposium

Blogcasting the National Football League, Blogcasting the NFL

Recently drafted players like Chiefs DT Glenn Dorsey, Jets DE Vernon Gholston, Rams DE Chris Long, Miami T Jake Long and Falcons QB Matt Ryan will learn the importance of personal brand management as part of the new NFL Player Brand University.

In its first year, the program will consist of two brand boot camp sessions designed to teach new players the fundamentals of brand development, by combining their on-field achievements with the community and business opportunities they pursue off-the-field. The sessions, which are mandatory for rookies and open to veterans, will be held at 19 NFL team facilities throughout May and June (beginning in Chicago tomorrow).

What a great idea. The program is part of an NFL Player Development initiative to assist players in taking a proactive approach to their career development by fully utilizing club and league resources to positively position themselves in their community. That means they have a small window of tremendous opportunity and they’d better take advantage of it. According to Michael Haynes, the NFL’s Vice President of Player and Employee Development:

“NFL Player Brand University is designed to help players develop and execute a brand strategy that will help them maximize their NFL experience and enjoy a successful career within and beyond the game. Our goal is to give every player who comes through the league the ability to fully leverage this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”

While learning about brand management, players will work to develop their own Brand Action Plan to define their identity and image goals based on personal preferences and interests. Then players will work with team Player Development staff throughout the season to select opportunities that help them to achieve those objectives. They will be able to use the NFL Brand Playbook throughout their first season as a reference to making wise decisions as they adjust to their new surroundings. NFL Player Brand University’s curriculum will also be included at the Rookie Symposium next month.

Source: NFL Media, Photo: Newscom

Post from: Every Morning Quarterback

NFL Rookies to Take Part in Player Brand U

Here’s the transcript from Commissioner Goodell’s press conference at the annual NFL Rookie Symposium in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida.

How the Symposium has lasted this long and the concern about players in their first year.

COMMISSIONER: The focus for us is how do we make these guys better men. What can we do to help prepare them for the decisions they will have to make as NFL players? It’s a big transition from college, so I think we’re providing some tools for them. The big focus for us is how do we expand on this, how do we make it better? It’s a great start but we want to make sure that we continue to promote these messages and give the players the kind of resources and tools they need to make good choices.

On the rookies and if they asked questions of him.

COMMISSIONER: Yes. I thought they were great. There were a lot of questions. They were good questions, direct questions. I think that’s terrific and I’m glad they felt comfortable enough to ask them.

If this will help the players in the long term. Is the goal to help them no matter what kind of career they have?

COMMISSIONER: The whole focus is how do we make these men better men, and how do we make sure that they understand that the skills they learn here are life skills; things that will help them throughout their lives and well beyond their NFL career.

How the message on player conduct is getting across.

COMMISSIONER: I think we’re being more clear with them of what we expect. There is a higher standard of behavior being that they are football players. The vast majority of our players do understand; only a select few of our players don’t. They get a lot of focus, they get a lot of attention, and it has a negative impact on the players in our league and the NFL in general. I think they have a better understanding of what we’re going expect from them in the future.

Why do they have a better understanding?

COMMISSIONER: Because we reinforce it at every opportunity. We feel very strongly here. The clubs are doing it at the club level and I think what we’ve done with the personal conduct policy came out just great. There are not many people who are unaware of what our standards are.

Why some players still don’t seem to grasp it.

COMMISSIONER: I’d be naïve to think that everyone will understand it. We’re going to have to make it a priority going forward. Again, we’re making players more aware of our standards of behavior. Secondly, we’re giving them more tools and resources to make sure that they can make those decisions, and hopefully that will have a great impact.

What you discussed with the players.

COMMISSIONER: Several things. I just tell them a little bit about my own background, being in the league for 26 years. I told them about what I think is important with respect to supporting the NFL shield. I did discuss personal conduct. I did talk about our responsibility to them, and about the resources we’re providing to them. I spoke to them about how important it is making their families proud in everything they do both on and off of the field.

The reaction of the players while he was speaking.

COMMISSIONER: I thought they were outstanding. It was a little difficult in the room to survey every conversation. You could tell the players were engaged. They asked very good questions, very responsive questions to what I had said, and I think they listened very intently.

The process in evaluating a violation of the policy.

COMMISSIONER: First we get the facts, and then once we’ve done that we make an evaluation of where it sits in our personal conduct policy and make a determination.

Overall goal of the symposium and this class of rookies.

COMMISSIONER: That we are concerned about them as men. Not only how they become great NFL players but how they become great men. How they conduct themselves appropriately for the remainder of their lives, not just in the National Football League.

How did the players ask questions? Did they raise their hand, stand up, grab a microphone?

COMMISSIONER: They did both, they had a microphone. They asked a lot of questions about the services they have available to them, what we could do to help them, am I available, what is my perspective and how I go about making decisions. They were very good questions.

Your perception of how the fans perceive personal conduct issues. Do you believe personal conduct is a problem in the fans’ eyes?

COMMISSIONER: The reaction I’m getting from the fans is quite supportive. We are standing up; we are making sure our players are held to a higher standard. They want that. People have put an awful lot of time, energy, money, into the National Football League, and I want them to feel good about what they’re doing.

Whether the symposium always has the same focus.

COMMISSIONER: We adapt the symposium to whatever the issues are at the time. We obviously have adapted the agenda here to some extent to make sure it’s responsive to issues that they may be facing, that they’re comfortable making the transition to pro football from college football.

Congressional hearing on retired players.

COMMISSIONER: The focus on retired players is that we have an obligation and a responsibility to retired players. I think we’ve done some very positive things for retired players and we’re considering doing some additional things that I think are quite responsive to the issues. I’ve spent a fair amount of time listening to retired players and listening to what the issues actually are. Both Gene and I will be having a meeting with the retired players on July 24th to talk about some of the ideas that we’ve been developing and hopefully we’ll be able to move this forward. I think we’re being very responsive to our retired players and I understand the interest in this. I hope were going to be seen in a very positive light in terms of being responsive to this.

The London Game and the loss of a home game for the Dolphins.

COMMISSIONER: I understand that and that’s why we’ve said all along that we’re going to have a limited number of regular-season games overseas because we recognize that it can be difficult for fans and they lose one of their eight regular-season home games. It’s not going to happen on a frequent basis. Even if we did two a year it wouldn’t happen frequently. On the other hand, any time a fan loses a home game we understand it’s a negative. We’re glad it’s on television. It’s not the same experience, but I think the club should be proud that their fans are going to be able to see it on television and more importantly they’re expanding on a global basis. Hopefully some good will come out of that. There’s not much I can say other than that. The fact is they are losing a regular-season home game.

Reaction to Pacman and Tank’s latest issues.

COMMISSIONER: We’re waiting to get the facts. They’re both under suspension right now so we’ll look at the facts and take it under consideration. They understand, as part of their suspension, that we’ll be evaluating every activity that is going on with them. They understand that so we’ll take that under consideration.

Hearing their names continually coming up in the news this offseason.

COMMISSIONER: I would rather them be making good choices. They know that and knew that when I met with them, and they each pledged to try to make good choices going forward. We’re trying to do everything we can to support them to make choices. If they don’t, that’s the decision they make and it will affect their future.

Reaction to hearing these names again.

COMMISSIONER: Disappointment, more than anything else. Either they aren’t getting the message or they don’t have the ability or the desire. It’s disappointing.

(Roger Goodell photo courtesy NFL)

Post from: Every Morning Quarterback

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell’s Rookie Symposium Press Conference Transcript