By Ross Tucker | SportingNews.com
AURORA, Ohio — Don't blame the NFL.
That's my first reaction anytime I see an NFL player get into trouble with the law.
Not everyone feels that way of course. In fact, most probably don't. Many pundits will say the NFL doesn't do enough to help educate these guys on how to manage their lives away from the field. Fans will assert that's because the NFL simply doesn't care.
I know better because I've seen better.
I'm here at the NFL's Rookie Symposium this week in Aurora, Ohio for the third straight year moderating a number of panels for the 2014 Draft class. Before you even begin to consider thinking that this is a puff piece or that I am a "shill" for the NFL (read your mind, didn't I?) please know that I am highly critical of the NFL when I think it is deserved and believe the league to be far from infallible.
In fact, the recent ruling by the 8th Circuit US Court of Appeals allowing the NFLPA to present their collusion case as a result of the NFL's handling of the 2010 season comes as no surprise to me. I've yet to hear one compelling argument for how the NFL could punish the Cowboys and Redskins for treating an uncapped year like it was, well, an uncapped year unless there were some sort of artificial parameters put into place. But I digress.
The point is that many people have heard about the Symposium and have a general understanding of what the NFL is trying to accomplish, but no frame of reference regarding how thorough and extensive the four days that the rookies are in town really are.
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