Big contracts = big pressure

[The Zimmermans]

I feel like all NFL players are confronted with enormous pressures, it's a very competitive league, it's on the national stage, and there's only 16 games in the regular season. Every NFL team has enormous pressure, I think the big factor is drive........once a player get his money, the drive to become the best diminishes unless the player has great character and loves the game. Maybe the skins should be looking to bring in Character guys, instead of high priced rejects from other teams. Other teams are not gonna just give away their locker room leaders, they give away the high priced guys that did not bring as much to the organizatoin as they could have AKA Randle El, Archuleta (was once good), and Lloyd

[mike340]

Different people react to pressure in different ways. And individuals react to different types of pressure in different ways.

I could easily see if someone got a contract that was more than they felt they deserved (but that their agent had managed to negotiate) that they would feel that they had to perform better than before. (Of course they could not state publicly that they felt they were overpaid.) So part of their mind (even when playing) would always be worried. As I have found that worry is my biggest obstacle to superior performance, I could imagine it would be for them as well. Once they accept that their prior level of play is good enough, the pressure reduces to just the normal game-day pressure that they're used to. Apparently Carter has accomplished this with dramatic results on the field of play.

In summary, a smaller contract keeps the pressure to what happens on the field. In this case the player has direct control of his destiny and only one thing to think about. A larger contract puts on the additional pressure of how the player's performance is perceived.

[MTK]

Originally Posted by mike340

Different people react to pressure in different ways. And individuals react to different types of pressure in different ways.

I could easily see if someone got a contract that was more than they felt they deserved (but that their agent had managed to negotiate) that they would feel that they had to perform better than before. (Of course they could not state publicly that they felt they were overpaid.) So part of their mind (even when playing) would always be worried. As I have found that worry is my biggest obstacle to superior performance, I could imagine it would be for them as well. Once they accept that their prior level of play is good enough, the pressure reduces to just the normal game-day pressure that they're used to. Apparently Carter has accomplished this with dramatic results on the field of play.

In summary, a smaller contract keeps the pressure to what happens on the field. In this case the player has direct control of his destiny and only one thing to think about. A larger contract puts on the additional pressure of how the player's performance is perceived.

I agree.

I think for guys like AA and AC, they signed the big deals and came here with high expectations. When the team started struggling and they weren't playing well either as individuals, things probably started snowballing for them. AA cracked, AC seems to have broken through.

These guys read the papers, the internet, hear the radio shows, etc. It's pretty easy to see how the pressure could quickly mount.