When the first-year players convene in Canton later this month for the rookie symposium, they’ll be hearing from one current player, three former players, and the guy ultimately in charge of the place where the best players end up.
As MDS pointed out earlier, Bengals cornerback Adam Jones, who legitimately has turned his life around after his prior Pacman days, will speak to the incoming athletes. According to the league office, the others scheduled to speak at the event include Troy Vincent (pictured), who serves as the league vice president of player engagement, former players Ross Tucker and LeCharles Bentley, and Pro Football Hall of Fame President Steve Perry (not that one . . . I think).
Ross presumably will be sharing with the kids something he learned this week: that schadenfreude isn’t German for “Skittles”.
Also speaking to the players will be experts in various topics that will be covered.
Due to the lockout, there was no rookie symposium in 2011. We’ll never know whether that would have helped Lions running back Mikel Leshoure, a second-round pick last year, avoid a two-game suspension.
UPDATE 6:11 p.m. ET: The league office has shared a slew of additional names of folks who will participate and/or speak at the symposium. They are LaVar Arrington, Mike Caussin, Zak DeOssie, Chris Draft, Jamie Dukes, Omar Easy, Carl Eller, Luther Ellis, Antonio Freeman, Jerry Gray, Michael Irvin, Devin McCourty, Jason McCourty, Hardy Nickerson, Terrell Owens, Matthew Slater, Torrey Smith, Tony Stewart, Matt Stover, Michael Vick, Mike Vrabel, Aeneas Williams, and Will Witherspoon.