So #5 comes along and as soon as he starts to get noticed around the league, you can understand the feeling of waiting for the other shoe to drop.
I still cringe when I hear the national sports media heap praise on him. Even worse? When the local DC media goes over the top on him. It feels like we're playing with fire.
Don't get me wrong. I enjoy watching him play. I want the Front Office to build him a good line and a good running game to take some of the load off of him because I want him to last and get better.
Would you believe that last night I was looking up the Oline class for this Spring's draft? lol
Maybe it's apart of getting older and being more measured and understanding the mistakes of the past with this club that tempers expectations?
Either way, we have a game in Dallas today and hopefully they remember what happened last time and handle their business to the point that maybe #5 doesn't play the fourth quarter?
Here's to a stress free game today...
DP, you're not wrong. I think a lot of it is the pure fatigue of sports media always trying to 'find the next big thing.' They're quick to anoint a player 'the best since' because they want to be first on the scene. Every year someone is 'doing something we haven't seen since XXXX', only to see that player fade into obscurity, or regress back to a more realistic expectation. Problem is once that title has been handed out as 'generational', a realistic expectation is such a 'regression' it's viewed as a bust, failed opportunity, or 'not living up to their talent.'
Every 2024 'redraft' i've seen has the Bears taking Jayden over Caleb, and they haven't even completed their first NFL Season. I am 100000% happy we took Jayden, but in reality we don't have a damn clue what we're going to be saying about these guys in 5 years, it's all projection and speculation. There are traits, and data points we can make those projections on, but so many factors involved that effect players careers.
At the end of the day I've tried to find myself excited about today, and not about what is yet to come, because getting too amped up will limit my level of happiness when it comes to Jayden, and this team. I know in the 24 - 25 season we've greatly exceeded expectations, and the foundation for the future is starting to come together, but it's step 1 of 14,567,245. It's a really damn good first step, and i'm excited to see what the steps to follow are. Some will be good, some wont, but it's a ride, not drag race.

