qdawg in philly Posted May 29, 2011 Posted May 29, 2011 It's definitely a talent issue first and foremost. But consider the case of Cameron Wake vs. Maybin. Both angular, long limbed, undersized fomer Penn State DE's from the Maryland/DC area. They have similar athletic traits, though Wake had better track numbers. Both did very little in their careers at Penn State, though Maybin did have a productive 7-8 game run which certainly gave people the wrong impression about his skill set. Maybin was a high first round pick. Wake went undrafted despite running in the 4.5 range at the combine and posting a 45" vertical leap. Both were utterly useless initially. Wake was cut in his first camp by the Giants. Wake was out of football and had to settle for a roster shot with the BC Lions of the CFL and thru his struggles learned in his words "toughness, versatility and want-to". What is keeping Maybin from making ANY impact in the NFL? "Toughness, versatility and want-to". Sometimes we gloss over what players say about what they have done to succeed. But when you consider the case of these two similar players.....it's easy to see that Wake gets exactly what Maybin doesn't get. Maybin can talk all he wants about his core strength training and yoga schedule. That's only a part of the equation. To make it in the NFL you need to be a competitive SOB. A guy like Wake brings the fight to his opponent. Maybin gets it brought to him, flails around and IMO, lies to himself that he is giving full effort. Specific example: Last season against Pittsburgh Maybin got a few rare snaps. On one play he rushed in from LDE, barely missed getting to Roethlisberger and fell to the ground allowing the OT to fall on top of him. Instead of battling to get back up, he lay there motionless under the OT for about 3 seconds while Roethlisberger scanned the field just feet away from Maybin's listless, pancaked body. He stopped competing. Finally he realized that the play was still alive, scrambled up and chased Roethlisberger 20 yards downfield, losing ground to the less than svelte 260 pound QB with every step. Point being he is not talented enough to not compete on the field. If you doubt my take, then ask yourselves why he can't even play special teams. He is not tough and doesn't have the want-to. Special teams is all about toughness and want-to. So as a result, he lacks the second aspect of Wake's success, VERSATILITY. Why does he not have that competitiveness? Well maybe it's just not in him. That's why you don't reach for guys with modest athletic traits, like a 4.88 40 time. You take those guys late and hope the competitiveness rises to the surface. Or maybe he just got the riches handed to him and can't find that motivation as a result. Or maybe, and this is a REAL possibility when you read his perculiar self assessments..........he just doesn't have the mental capacity to understand that what he thinks is 100% effort is not that at all. Kind of like the person who thinks that putting in 40 hours per week at a job constitutes giving it your all, when in fact working smarter and harder are both possibilities. Like the assessment!
San Jose Bills Fan Posted May 29, 2011 Posted May 29, 2011 (edited) He is much bigger in person. You forget he is 6'4, but when your up close to him he is pretty big. I was expecting him to be 5'5 and rail thin. No disrespect to you or your face to face impressions… but Maybin looks like a girl next to Vernon Davis. Edited May 29, 2011 by San Jose Bills Fan
Nuncha Posted May 29, 2011 Posted May 29, 2011 It might be too early to give up on him, BUT he should take ONE HELLUVA pay cut to stay on this team. How many million dollars has he made for doing absolutely NOTHING?
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