Flint's Brandon Carr tries not to get discouraged with NFL lockout in full throttle
 

Flint's Brandon Carr tries not to get discouraged with NFL lockout in full throttle

FLINT, Michigan — For 15 days, the National Football League has experienced an official shutdown. Professional football is out of action for the first time since 1987 as a nasty lockout lingers over the organization.

At the moment, there’s no guarantee that the 2012 season will begin in September as players and owners dispute back-and-forth with labor talks.

Coming off his third year as a member of the Kansas City Chiefs, former Carman-Ainsworth standout Brandon Carr was prepared for this moment. The cornerback has been keeping a watchful eye on the situation.

“I’m on it every day,” Carr said of the lockout. “Some days are better than others but I have faith in our representatives and in our player’s union that they’re going to get the deal done and finish this up.

“All I can do right now is take care of my body and focus on the upcoming season.”

Carr is currently a restricted free agent.

Earlier this month, the Chiefs put a contract tender on the 24-year-old, which means if another team decides to sign Carr than they will have to hand over a first-round draft pick to the franchise. In 2010, Carr started all 16 games and gathered a total of 57 tackles — 46 solo, 11 assisted — including an interception in a week 16 win over the Tennessee Titans.

The Flint native also led the league in passes defended with 25. A “pass defended” takes place when any pass that a defender — through contact with the football — causes to be incomplete.

After experiencing so much success last season, Carr hopes the Chiefs, who won the AFC West Championship in 2010 after finishing 10-6, can continue to make leaps of progress.

“Of course I’m hoping to get back on the field but it’s always a business side to it. We don’t want to take a pay cut, we don’t want to work for free,” Carr said. “The NFL is not for long, you got so many years to get what you have to get and then you have to live the rest of your life with that money opposed to the person that’s a doctor or lawyer.”

With so many outside forces fighting for his attention, Carr is trying to clear his mind by making a difference in his community. On June 24, Carr hopes to get away from pro football as he hosts his first annual 7-on-7 shootout at Carman-Ainsworth High School. This event will give the area high school teams an opportunity to come out and sharpen their skills in the offseason against stiff competition with hopes of beginning the regular season on a high note.

“It’s an idea that I got from one of my teammates, Brandon Flowers, when I went to his camp last year and he held a 7-on-7,” Carr said. “I could have done a one or two-day camp but I just felt like in order for teams to get better as a whole than they should play together.”

He will also anchor his third annual golf outing. The “Brandon Carr Golf Scramble” will be held on Saturday, June 25. During this time of uncertainty in regards to his professional endeavors, those close to him try to keep him in a positive mindset.

“With everything going on, all the positive things that he is doing now — (like) giving back — that just makes me proud,” Carr’s older cousin/consultant, Terrance Robinson said. “I make sure he keeps his head on straight, I told him don’t worry about what’s going on with the lockout or what teams they’re talking about but just to prepare yourself.”

As Carr awaits for his next career move, with the lockout in full throttle, he’s continuing to spend every dollar wisely.

They need to stop referring to it as a "Player's Union" if they want everyone to believe it's not a sham decertification.

It's now the NFL Player's Association.

Carr may actually be worth a first-round at this point if some team in the bottom of the round wants him.

Its always been the NFLPA.

All the more reason.

This is what's wrong with the NFL. What people on earth are allowed to think and act this way. I'm sorry but most people in real life have more than one career. More than one job as they make it through life. Why should an NFL player be any different? The concept of having to make enough money in a handful of years in the NFL to sustain a person for another 50 years/ the rest of their life is wrong headed. Especially when the peolpe who pay their wages (the fans) have to go on working till they retire at 63+ years of age.


PhilFree:arrow:

Do it...Do it

No don't do it. Don't do it.

Our secondary is probably top 3 in the league right now. Giving up Carr would hurt us tremendously seeing as how he was our best corner the last half of the season last year.

That.

It would be such an awful, awful decision. He is young, proven, sturdy, and very talented.

Our secondary could legitimately be lock down for 5-8 years, which is more than enough time to build up the rest of the team, increase depth, and fill holes to make a legit run.

And something tells me Pioli isn't looking to make this team a 3 year window type of team like Carl did with DV. He is looking to build a year-in, year-out contender like he did in NE.

Considering the average life expectancy of an NFL player is 53-59, I'd say it's a wash.

I think Denver should pony up their first. They need to replace Bailey soon.

Stats can be used to say what ever....

I really appreciate what the players do but I don't buy all the BS. When an X Player ODs on herion is that on anyone else but that guy?

Or obesity?

Get me the cause of deaths in regards to the life expectancy equation and maybe I'll buy it. Till then I call BS.

What's the life expectancy of a punk on the streets?

These guys get the chance of a lifetime....it's not a curse.

I won't feel sorry for them.


PhilFree:arrow:

It's not ENTIRELY without merit, from the POV that your 'career' is what you spend your teens and early 20s training for. Doctors and Lawyers spend it in Law and Medical School. Fortunately for them, that produces [usually, heh] a decent income stream for decades. Athletes spend it honing their physique and developing athletic skills. Those choices pay handsomely, but for only a short time. I see a hybrid of the two as the entrepreneur who busts his ass for 10 years to get a business model off the ground, with the expectation that the remainder of his life being devoted to managing/shepherding his creation, rather than scrambling and scraping like in the initial years.

You're pretty much all over the map here. I'll give you some of the information you asked for, however. NFL linemen are continually fighting to stay at or above 300 lbs. It's not a choice, it's a necessity to keep their jobs. This happens at the college level too. These guys are trained to eat thousands of calories a day to maintain weight. When their careers are over, do you think it's easy to stop doing that? The average life expectancy for an NFL lineman is early 50s. They aren't dying of heroin overdoses.

I get that you don't feel sorry for them, but that says more about you than it does about them. This information is all over the web on all the sports sites, if you really dont' know about it, it's because you're being willfully ignorant.