When an
organization does draft research and scouting on a player, they always look at
the physical aspect and not always the mental part. The General Manager of any
organization is supposed to look up a player history of any type of encounters
the player had with the law. Charles Rogers had red flags surrounding him
during the draft process. Matt Million highly ignored them. Rogers was tested
twice positive for marijuana early on at Michigan State. There was a test that
indicated excess water, which the NFL considered a possible masking agent in
Rogers' system. Rogers was seen by the NFL as an explosive threat down the
field who was highly compared to Randy Moss. He had the size of 6 foot three
and ran a 4.34 at the combine. That is considered thundering speed for a
wideout. Lions hoped he would be part of a compliment to the former Quarterback
Joey Harrington. His first NFL season started off good until he broke his left
collarbone in practice against cornerback Dre Bly. His season was ended after
that injury. He started off really well catching two touchdown passes against
the Arizona Cardinals in his first game. The next season he came back stronger
and was ready to make a comeback during the 2004 season. The season opener
against the Chicago Bears, he dived for the ball that was intended towards him.
He fell awkward on his other right shoulder, and broke that collarbone. His
season was once again cut short. The next season he was not seen as the same
player. He gained weight to get stronger but he lost his speed. Matt Millen
said something didn't look right with him. He was slow getting off his brakes
and not looking the same promising player like he once did. His season also
didn't look promising because he was suspended for four games due to drug abuse.
According to
Millen, " He fell victim to a far stronger addiction, the toughest one to
overcome... and that is peer pressure." Rogers downfall in his NFL career
could be seen as the blame on a number of different things. Injuries made him
depressed and he admitted when he broke his collarbone the second time, he was
depressed and abused his drug prescriptions. Lack of discipline, immaturity
also came to the table. Rogers just didn't how to deal with failure. He
couldn't cope with it. When he came back for his third season after back to
back injuries, he couldn't cope with how his first two seasons being drained by
injuries. Being away from the team and meetings, he started smoking marijuana
daily. Rogers noted that, " I was like in disarray." He looked
average in his third season. Something looked clearly wrong and it was the
impact of drugs that he was using. During his fourth season, he was cut by the
team right before the season started. The new coaching staff just wasn't
impressed with him. His speed wasn't the same anymore and his attitude just
looked bad for a team that was rebuilding. His last stint with an NFL team was
in the summer of 2006 during the preseason. Ever since then no team gave him a
contract. Nick Saban his former coach, gave him a tryout with the Dolphins.
Unfortunately, he was not impressed by his workout. That was it for Charles
Rogers. His NFL career was cut short due to injuries and lack of discipline.
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