Originally posted by 5_Golden_Rings:
I don't see how suffering from being rich necessarily leads to affluenza, and if it does, perhaps his pursuit of "more" brought about by his disability has led him to MORE practice, MORE competitiveness, and MORE development/improvement?
Moreover, comparing him to Manziel is flawed on account of the fact that Manziel didn't do much by way of progression reading or pro throws in college. Nor did he demonstrate the same level of skill in the pocket or accuracy as far as I can tell watching old college video of him.
In general, most QB's come from upper middle class to wealthy families. To be able to get to that level you need to maximize your natural abilities so having extra money to spend on top notch coaching and training is essential when you get to the highest levels. You don't see many top tier QB's coming from low income backgrounds. Wilson coming from a very well-to-do-family isn't unique by any stretch of the imagination. Pat Mahomes isn't a dude whose family lacked for money. Mac Jones is coming from a family that is pretty well off, same thing for guys like Baker Mayfield and Justin Herbert.
That in itself isn't a knock but if the guy has issues that alienate him from teammates, that would be a problem. Your QB doesn't have to be a "rah rah" type leader but he does have to be well liked and respected by his teammates. Not saying that is the case with Wilson but from my experience, these reports don't tend to come out of nowhere. There's usually some element of truth to them but its not necessarily a problem depending on the context.
Pat Mahomes was reported to pretty much be a weirdo and kind of an odd dude that teams weren't sure could command a locker room but he can ball the hell out and has been playing at a high level since Day 1 so it didn't matter. Baker Mayfield was reported to have a lot of douchy tendencies but he's a guy that his teammates would apparently crawl across hot coals for so it didn't matter. They freaking loved playing for him so everything else was secondary. Josh Rosen was described as a guy that was overly entitled, kind of douchey and it was questioned just how hungry he was to be great. Those concerns turned out to be right on the money. Matt Leinart was an outstanding QB prospect but was reported to be a guy who loved the QB celebrity party lifestyle far more than he loved the QB grind and study film lifestyle.
The main questions with Wilson will be, just how determined is he to be a great NFL player? Is he someone that truly loves the game or is it just something he enjoys doing because of his natural athletic gifts and the doors they open for him socially and otherwise. Is he going to get into the NFL and grind his ass off to be the best or will he be satisfied simply with getting drafted, knowing that if he fails, he can always fallback on a cushy, well-paid gig from family connections.
Its not just him either, the same applies for a guy like Mac Jones who was perfectly content to be a backup at Bama when he could have been starting elsewhere. Will he be hungry to get better and better consistently, knowing he can still have a pretty chill life outside of football? Does he have true competitive fire or is he the type of dude that would be happy to spend 5-10 years as an NFL backup, enjoy the team environment and then move on to something else?
