Washington Redskins: The moral hazard in retaining Su’a Cravens
By Desmond Lee
The benefits of draft standing and potential can wear thin for any player who places his own self-interest before the team’s needs.
Injuries such as a concussion that affected Cravens’ vision and unstated family issues he faced last year contributed to an inauspicious beginning to his young career. While these wouldn’t constitute “self-interest” on his part, Cravens haphazard reactions to these bouts of adversity justifiably irked the Redskins front office.
Indeed, addressing serious conditions like a loss of vision shouldn’t be aired out on social media, but should be dealt directly with the team. And wild fluctuations in how Cravens viewed his immediate future raised serious issues with his maturity.
On one day, Cravens was musing retirement; on another, he couldn’t tell and yet another day, he was considering coming back. Amidst all the upheaval he was experiencing, Cravens reportedly announced he was ready to return after the Washington Redskins Week 2 game against the Rams. The day before that game, which was played in his native Southern California, Cravens showed up to back his alma mater against the Texas Longhorns in the same stadium where his current team would play the Rams the next day.
His jocularity on the Trojan sideline was a noticeable and stark contrast to the supposed maelstrom of emotion he was in the midst of overcoming. What effect this had on the Redskins front office was unknown; but rather than waiting for Cravens to leave them again, the Redskins proactively placed him on the reserved / left squad list, guaranteeing he would not return to the team in 2017.
In its official press release on this personnel move, the organization issued a thinly-veiled bit of paternal advice (per John Keim of ESPN) to him: “We sincerely hope that Su’a uses this time away from the club to reflect upon whether or not he’d like to resume his career in the National Football League in 2018″.