"One of the things I noticed more in this draft than in any recent drafts was the importance of the character issue. Players who had baggage, like Justice, fell much farther than his talent dictated. But a lot of coaches didn't want to take the chance"
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Jaworski is letting the quiet part of the NFL draft stay quiet while still making it legible: teams don’t just buy talent, they buy risk. The sentence does two things at once. On the surface it’s scouting commentary, the kind of measured, inside-baseball observation that sounds objective. Underneath, it’s an admission that the league’s marketplace is moralized and nervous - that “character” is less a virtue checklist than an insurance premium.
The word “baggage” is doing heavy lifting. It’s vague on purpose, a catchall that can mean anything from legal trouble to a bad interview to rumors a team can’t verify but still fears. That fuzziness is the point: because it’s hard to quantify, it becomes a convenient lever to move a prospect down boards without having to argue about film. Jaworski’s example, “like Justice,” grounds the claim in a real draft-room dynamic: a player with first-round ability gets priced like a later-round gamble because reputational volatility spooks decision-makers.
“Fell much farther than his talent dictated” frames the draft as a supposedly rational system momentarily distorted by human anxiety. Then Jaworski lands the real subtext: “coaches didn’t want to take the chance.” It’s not primarily about ethics; it’s about job security. In a league where a missed pick can cost a staff its future, “character issue” becomes a proxy for self-preservation. The draft, in this telling, isn’t only an evaluation of players - it’s a referendum on how fearful an organization is allowed to be.
The word “baggage” is doing heavy lifting. It’s vague on purpose, a catchall that can mean anything from legal trouble to a bad interview to rumors a team can’t verify but still fears. That fuzziness is the point: because it’s hard to quantify, it becomes a convenient lever to move a prospect down boards without having to argue about film. Jaworski’s example, “like Justice,” grounds the claim in a real draft-room dynamic: a player with first-round ability gets priced like a later-round gamble because reputational volatility spooks decision-makers.
“Fell much farther than his talent dictated” frames the draft as a supposedly rational system momentarily distorted by human anxiety. Then Jaworski lands the real subtext: “coaches didn’t want to take the chance.” It’s not primarily about ethics; it’s about job security. In a league where a missed pick can cost a staff its future, “character issue” becomes a proxy for self-preservation. The draft, in this telling, isn’t only an evaluation of players - it’s a referendum on how fearful an organization is allowed to be.
Quote Details
| Topic | Coaching |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
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