Ten years ago last
month, Charlie Rogers stood in front of the media, wearing a Detroit Lions
baseball cap and proudly holding his brand new Honolulu blue and silver jersey
with No. 1 on the front, signifying his status as a first round draft choice.
There were smiles
all around. President Matt Millen smiled. New coach Steve Mariucci smiled.
Chairman Bill Ford Jr. smiled. Lions fans all over the country smiled.
It was a giddy
time.
The Lions felt
like they were on to something. The year prior, the team drafted their
quote-unquote franchise quarterback, Joey Harrington, from Oregon.
Now they were
adding Rogers, out of Michigan State, to be the franchise receiver.
Finally—a real
quarterback and receiver tandem!
Harrington proved
himself to be a bust, a nice young man but without the intangibles needed to be
a winning professional quarterback. The Lions did him no favors, never able to
surround Harrington with bona fide talent. Within three years, the Lions pulled
the plug on the Harrington Era.
Rogers was a bust
too, maybe one of the biggest in NFL history. But his problem wasn’t lack of
talent. It was lack of moral character and decency.
The Lions, as
usual under Millen’s leadership, failed to do their due diligence before
drafting Rogers. Had they done some digging, they likely would have learned
about Charlie’s skeletons at MSU. The failed drug tests, for one—Rogers failed
one each year at MSU, it came to light years later. And, some MSU folks said,
Rogers wasn’t exactly the hardest working player on the team.
But Rogers was
loaded with talent. In his last season at MSU (2002), Rogers won the Paul
Warfield Trophy as the best college wide receiver in the country. He was a
unanimous first team All-American.
It never came
close to happening for Rogers in the NFL.
Rogers was
released by the Lions just before the 2006 season after two seasons cut short
by injury and one cut short by multiple violations of the NFL’s substance abuse
policy, resulting in suspension. His NFL career consisted of 15 games played
and 36 catches, for 440 yards and four TDs.
In 2008, Rogers
was arrested for assault and battery of his girlfriend. In a separate incident,
he violated probation, testing positive for the pain killer Vicodin. In 2009 he
was arrested in Novi for drunk driving. Less than a year later, Rogers was
arrested again, having passed out drunk—again in Novi.
It was easy for
those of us not connected to Charlie Rogers personally to smirk and shake our
head at his misadventures. No matter how many times he got arrested, Charlie
Rogers was still known as “that NFL bust.” He wasn’t a person—and that was the
problem.
Rogers didn’t have
an inner circle of friends who gave two you-know-whats about him, once his NFL
days were done. He had tons of “friends” when football was his world—a world
that he, at times, appeared to have in the palm of his big hand.
But when the
football was in the rearview mirror, Rogers’ posse evaporated. They moved on to
other folks on whose coat tails they could ride.
Charlie Rogers was
troubled, but worse than that, he was alone.
Lacking a support
group of sorts, Rogers kept getting into trouble.
In 2010, Rogers
was ordered to return to the Lions $6.1 million of the $9.1 singing bonus he
received in 2003. A judge agreed with the Lions’ contention that Rogers’ drug
use equated a breach of contract.
In December 2011,
Rogers was pulled over in Saginaw. Police found an open container of alcohol in
his vehicle. That incident is still without resolution. Possible charges are
pending.
Throughout all of
these misadventures, Charlie Rogers was never helped. No one took Rogers in. No
one reached out to him. He wasn’t a star football player anymore, so screw
him—that seemed to be the attitude.
Today Rogers is
approaching his 32nd birthday (it’s May 23). He has no future to
speak of. He never earned his degree from MSU. He is perhaps unemployable.
No one said it
better about Rogers, than Rogers himself.
In an interview in
August 2009 with ESPN’s Jemele Hill, whose journalism roots include Detroit,
Rogers said, "I got a little
greedy. The girls played a part in it.” Then, even more astutely, Charlie
added, "I fucked up. Point blank, simple."
Ten years after Rogers’ drafting into the
NFL, there’s another former Lions receiver battling demons.
Titus Young was a 2nd round
draft choice of the Lions in 2011, out of that pass happy program, Boise State.
Like Rogers, Young exhibited some troubling behavior in college. And, like in
Rogers’ case, the Lions chose to ignore it.
At Boise State, Young was suspended for
most of his sophomore season for fighting with a teammate.
Young was the 44th overall pick
in the 2011 NFL Draft. His off-field behavior scared some teams off. It didn’t
scare off the Lions.
Young is in a downward spiral right now.
He keeps getting arrested. Last summer, Young punched teammate Louis Delmas in
practice and that started the spiral as a Lion.
Young ran wrong routes on purpose in a
game against Green Bay last season, it was charged. He was causing trouble for
his coaches in practice and during games. The Lions finally benched him.
Young took to Twitter in January and got
into spats with fans on social media. The Lions released him the day after the
Super Bowl. The St. Louis Rams, another franchise not known for smart
decisions, claimed Young. But even the Rams had second thoughts and released
Young nine days later.
This month, Young has been arrested three
times, for alleged violations ranging from drunk driving to theft to resisting
arrest. Last week, Young’s father said that his son has a severe mental
disorder and needs help.
It’s not about football anymore for Titus
Young. It’s about life, and his ability to survive it. It should be pointed out
that Young is the father of a nine-month old baby boy, Titus Jr.
Again we smirk and shake our heads at
Young’s personal life, as we did at Charlie Rogers’.
Rogers never got any help. Young’s
father’s comment gives hope that Titus can get some help and support. Maybe
there will be a personal posse that will gather and help Young battle his
demons.
Charlie Rogers is 32, broke, and has no
future. The world that was once his oyster is now his living hell.
That’s nothing to smirk about.
