When news came out about Jalen Carter being out of shape for his pro day it seemed like everyone got in a tissy about it and kind of piled on a guy who was having a pretty terrible, horrible, no good, very bad couple of weeks. It’s the Pre-Draft process and I know that every single thing is scrutinized, magnified, and over-analyzed, but the thing that bothered me the most was that our man was getting hounded for weighing nine pounds heavier than he was at the combine two weeks prior.
And to that, I say, “Is that it?”
If you’re going through a tough spot in your life, and the only physical repercussion that you have is that you gained 3% of your total body weight, you’re doing something right.
To put that in perspective, I tore my ACL two weeks after I turned 30 and that bummed me out pretty good. I gained about 20 pounds in just under a month, bumping me up to 215. That’s a 10% increase in my body weight.
I know that I’m not an elite physical specimen, an athlete, or even moderately active.
I know that I’m not going to get paid $22 million in my whole life.
I also know that on a human level, I can relate to Jalen Carter. I know that going through what he went through has got to be bad for your mentals.
Nine pounds in two weeks should not have been a point of contention where we debated his lack of maturity and work ethic. It should’ve been a point of contention where we debated how the man’s mental health didn’t falter or break nearly as much as it would for us normal people.
My setback put me in a bad spot because it confirmed that I was washed up. I depressingly HOUSED ice cream cones, Zapp’s Voodoo Chips, and sleeves of Velveeta. Jalen Carter’s setback put his personal and professional life in jeopardy. He ate an extra peanut butter and syrup sandwich every day. It’s safe to say he handled everything better, especially when the stakes were higher.
Jalen, hats off to you. You’re a stronger man than I, in more ways than one.