For those of you who have already heard about this a few days ago, my apologies on my tardiness in getting it together. Had a funeral and all over the weekend, but I think (and as I told my fellow writers, this is the third time I've said this in about a month) everything has settled down on my end, and you should all be hearing from me more often- and with stories that aren't a few days old.
Anyways, Bob McGinn of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (just me, or is that paper's name a tad redundant?) reported this gem from an anonymous scout (of course it's anonymous, it's draft season) regarding Matt Kalil, and it's made a little bit of waves:
"Not one of my faves," one scout said. "More of it is just his character. He doesn't have an offensive lineman's character, especially when you take into account how good his brother is in that way. He's got a real sense of entitlement. Hey, he's got a lot of talent. He'll overcome some of those things if he doesn't want to wash out, if he doesn't want to end up being Robert Gallery."
First off, not going to lie- had to Google Robert Gallery after reading that. He was a LT drafted highly by the Raiders who didn't do that well as a tackle, but apparently excelled as a guard. Really couldn't find anything referencing attitude issues being a part of that- I guess he just didn't have what it took for the premier O-line spot. Quite frankly, if he excelled after what could be deemed a ‘demotion', I doubt attitude had anything to do with it anyways.
That aside, I'm wondering what this ‘sense of entitlement' bit is. As Chris reported a bit back, when Kalil met with the Vikings, he basically gave them the "draft me and you won't need a LT for ten years" line. Is that supposed to be entitlement? What, exactly, was he expected to say- "draft me, and maybe you won't need a LT for another year or so, I dunno. I might work out, I might not. Hey, let's find out guys!"?
Look, if you're going to be a top tier football player, you're going to have a healthy ego and a certain sense of entitlement. You can't tell me Peyton Manning, for all his general laid-back attitude off the field, wouldn't want to punch you in the face if you told him you thought Tom Brady was better. To me, entitlement can have its drawbacks- plenty of WRs have shown us that. But what, exactly, is Kalil going to feel entitled about when he's a LT that will be detrimental? "Hey c'mon D, throw some more blitzes my way!!!"? If the Vikings draft him, you can bet that he will be a starter at LT come day one, short of a horrendous training camp- which I don't foresee.
I'm not sure what else he would feel ‘entitled' to. So, even if this report is accurate- which it may well not be *cough*CamNewtonBadAttitudeWillBust*cough*- I'm still having a hard time figuring out why it would even be a problem.