Originally posted by okdkid:
Originally posted by WRATHman44:
You are being intentionally obtuse here. Talent was never the issue. You referenced Nkemdiche, but Polite's meltdown was worse, resulting in a steeper drop. It's not hard to understand, unless you are deliberately trying not to understand.
It appears the Seahawks and the Jets thought talent was certainly part of the "issue". Let's not pretend like he was consistently killing it on the practice field like a so-called first round talent would. People made their mind up on his talent in January and won't come off it, even though he has consistently proven he has few (any?) transferrable skills. This league is littered with guys who are far worse mentally but had actual 1st round talent and stuck around longer than Polite.
Conditioning affects the ability to use one's talent, wouldn't you agree? He showed up to the combine fat, and it only got worse. That isn't talent; it's his failure to maintain his body making it harder for him to access his talent. The athletic potential is still there; but his poorly-conditioned muscles can't perform as well.
Regarding attitude vs talent: another team just dumped Antonio Brown, a top-10 WR in the league. It wasn't due to lack of talent, it was due to his attitude and off-field conduct. Polite is MUCH less established than Brown, so he gets a much shorter leash. This isn't difficult; you're making it difficult. Film doesn't lie: get off, hand use, change of direction, dip... he had tremendous physical tools. He failed to realize his immense athletic potential due to poor work ethic in the pre-draft process, and he turned off teams with his attitude. It's all well documented. You have to deliberately avoid all of this information to have missed it all. If anyone is guilty of making a poor conclusion and failing to come off of it, it's you.