Seattle Seahawks wide receiver Doug Baldwin took to Twitter for a rather extensive rant on Friday. To call it a rant isn't to attempt to discredit it in anyway, but Baldwin himself said that he was about to go on the rant. Baldwin talked about the NFL as a whole, and the fact that it's a business first, with a No. 1 goal of entertainment and making money.
Doug Baldwin talks NFL, business and talent evaluation in Twitter rant
Seattle Seahawks wide receiver Doug Baldwin talked business and how pundits and analysts handle talent evaluation in a lengthy Twitter rant on Friday.
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Of course, that's not shocking at all and something that anybody should know. But Baldwin did go a little deeper, talking about the way that analysts and pundits evaluate talent pre-draft and at the next level. Baldwin, notably, was not invited to the combine in 2011 and was signed as an undrafted free agent. He ended up being a big part of Seattle's run at the Super Bowl this past year.
Baldwin makes several references to players on that Super Bowl-winning team, his teammates, and notes how public perceptions of these players were wrong in the past. Below, we’ll embed the whole rant, going with his earliest first (so notably, it will read the opposite direction of his Twitter feed):
Imma go on a lil rant real quick
— Doug Baldwin Jr (@DougBaldwinJr) February 21, 2014 The more I sit back and observe everything that has to do with the NFL the more I realize it’s just an entertainment business.
— Doug Baldwin Jr (@DougBaldwinJr) February 21, 2014 I was so caught up in trying to make football at this level purely football. But when I look around me, it’s nothing, NOTHING but a business
— Doug Baldwin Jr (@DougBaldwinJr) February 21, 2014 Understandably so. But I want to inform you, the fans. Don’t be sucked in to ESPN, NFL Network and all these money making media outlets.
— Doug Baldwin Jr (@DougBaldwinJr) February 21, 2014 Their singular purpose is to entertain you. Make you think something is important when it really isn’t. It’s not for news, it’s for ratings.
— Doug Baldwin Jr (@DougBaldwinJr) February 21, 2014 They want you to be sucked into their opinions. Why? That pushes their brand and eventually makes them money at some level.
— Doug Baldwin Jr (@DougBaldwinJr) February 21, 2014 I’m asking you, the fans, to be informed. Do your own thinking. They will say a guy is too short to play QB… he’ll win a SuperBowl.
— Doug Baldwin Jr (@DougBaldwinJr) February 21, 2014 They will say he’s too small to play linebacker. He’ll make an interception for a touchdown in this biggest stage the game has to offer.
— Doug Baldwin Jr (@DougBaldwinJr) February 21, 2014 They will say he is too tall to play corner, not quick enough, not smart enough… and become the best corner in the game.
— Doug Baldwin Jr (@DougBaldwinJr) February 21, 2014 They will say he can’t because of this, he can’t because of that… and they will continue to be wrong… Why? Because they are human.
— Doug Baldwin Jr (@DougBaldwinJr) February 21, 2014 They want to look at the 40. The shuttle. They broad jump. The vertical jump. All of these measurables. But they will continue to miss. Why?
— Doug Baldwin Jr (@DougBaldwinJr) February 21, 2014 Because you can not measure the Heart, Passion and Relentlessness to be great that someone has deep down in their soul.
— Doug Baldwin Jr (@DougBaldwinJr) February 21, 2014 So while these pundits and so-called expert analyst fill the air with their irrelevant jargon, realize they are talking about PEOPLE.
— Doug Baldwin Jr (@DougBaldwinJr) February 21, 2014 Realize these people are not just items to be shown off at the combine to be auctioned off to the highest bidder. Didn’t think about that….
— Doug Baldwin Jr (@DougBaldwinJr) February 21, 2014 Because at the end of the day, the players are all expendable. The only thing that matters to the NFL is the brand of NFL.
— Doug Baldwin Jr (@DougBaldwinJr) February 21, 2014 So don’t get mad when players are deemed ‘selfish’ or ‘not about the team.’ They wouldn’t be at this level if that was the case.
— Doug Baldwin Jr (@DougBaldwinJr) February 21, 2014 In a business that is geared to protecting itself, how could you blame the players who put their bodies on the line for doing the same?
— Doug Baldwin Jr (@DougBaldwinJr) February 21, 2014 Just remember that. 100.
— Doug Baldwin Jr (@DougBaldwinJr) February 21, 2014 See More:
