Skipper says college players need to love misery of football

For former Arkansas Razorback turned Detroit Lions offensive lineman Dan Skipper, it's pretty easy to see how bad chasing NIL dollars has been for athletes when it comes to trying to transition to the NFL.

Skipper not only knows what it takes to hold onto a professional football career at the highest level for multiple years, but also has first-hand knowledge as to how poorly developed many big money NIL players are when they first arrive in the NFL. One of the first things done now is to have players go around and say where they are from and how much they made in NIL at that school.

In an interview with "The Coaches Pod" last week, Skipper said he's stunned at how much players are making as a large percentage are taking pay cuts to come to the NFL. He's even more shocked to see these high dollar players get on the field and prove they aren't worth anywhere near the money they are being paid.

"Kids spouting out, you know, $300,000, $400,000, yada yada yada, $2.2 [million]," Skipper said. "And I think there were three or four kids in the [$400,000] to $600,000 range who weren't even on [practice] squad at the end of it. Like, that's insane. Are you making half a million dollars in college and you're not one of the best, you know, 53 plus 16 times 32, plus [all the players on injured reserves]?"

In some cases they players weren't only so poorly developed at football that they couldn't even make the practice squad. There were high dollar players who straight up couldn't play football at all, which was highly perplexing the NFL players working alongside them.

"We saw it last year," Skipper said. "You know, kid made $500,000 in college, could not play a lick of football. I don't know. You can't develop [bouncing school to school in] football. It's not basketball. Like football, you get better playing next to people consistently, right? You go from fall camp, play all fall next to someone, spring ball, all summer workout. You know, and feel where these guys are, and you know where each other's at. You can't just, fall camp, see you later. Fall camp, see you later. It's just not how you get better at this game."

One consistent thing he noted when analyzing last year's draft was how many successful players stayed at the same school all the way through. Skipper views it almost as harmful to players to line their pockets with so much money at a young age, only to have them fall off a steep cliff when their NFL dreams come immediately crashing down.

"You take your Top 10 quarterbacks every year and say they're each getting $2 million for a round number," Skipper said. "All right, so there's $20 million in those kids. Of those 10, maybe one or two of them are any good in the league. There will be four or five that float around and [practice] squad their way through it, if they're smart enough, or, you know, have a trait or something of that nature. But you go from $2 million at, you know, 19-20 years old to, oh, now you're gonna go sell insurance. Like, are we really doing these kids a favor?"

For him, learning to value money while being on his own for the first time was important. Continuing to develop as he chased the NFL contract carrot in college helped him to appreciate small things while avoiding trouble.

"I know if I had any sort of cash in college, it wouldn't have been good for me," Skipper said. "We'd make $100 working security [at local bars or Wal-Mart AMP]. We thought we were high on the hog. Go to Goodwill, buy a Lazy Boy, throw to the bed of a truck, cooler of beer and you're good to go."

The biggest think Skipper has seen is a change in motivation, which is not a good thing. He is a firm believer that money can't be the driving force behind wanting to play and grow in football.

"When you're knee high to a grasshopper, you play because you love to hit someone," Skipper said. "[Chasing money is] not why you started playing football ... I want to hit someone, you know. And then it changed. I want to play on Friday nights. I want to be a varsity player. And then it was, you know, play on Saturdays. Get a couple offers. I want to play in the SEC. Like, all these goals and dreams change, and then, I don't know, but football is just, if you're in it for the money at 18 or 19, I don't know."

Still, he wants to be clear. Football, especially at the professional level, takes too much of a toll not to want and need quality compensation no matter how much someone loves the game.

"I'm 30, and I still love the game," Skipper said. "The money's great. I wouldn't play for free. Let's get that clear this year. Let's get that clear. I'm not playing for free, but at the same point, like you have to love the misery of it. There's nothing fun about getting in this yard and pushing a prowler on this thing when it's, you know, 100 degrees with 90% humidity. That is horrible, but I know I need to do it to be ready. There's nothing fun about squatting 600 pounds once a week all year long. That's what it takes."