Young Cardinals who are more talented than fans might think

These are not household names as of yet, but then again neither were Kurt Warner or Dennis Gardeck

JAG is one of the current popular terms that NFL fans use as an acronym (“Just Another Guy”) for “camp body.”

This irks me.

As Atticus Finch (from “To Kill a Mockingbird,” by Harper Lee advised Scout and Jem: “you never really know a man until you stand in his shoes and walk around in them.”

As Mama Younger (from Lorraine Hansberry’s “A Raisin in the Sun”) said to her daughter Beneatha, “When you starts measuring somebody, measure him right, child, measure him right. Make sure you done taken into account what hills and valleys he come through before he got to wherever he is.”

If fans are going to try to be fair about measuring the talent of NFL players, then what they ought to do is research their backgrounds and study a sufficient sample of their college game tapes.

NFL players do not get drafted or signed as a college free agent or make the team’s practice squad or better yet, the back end of an NFL roster by accident.

it’s often fascinating to try to discover what the team scouts saw in the player (and the person’s character) that gave the prospect a chance to try to make an NFL roster.

It is no secret that in the NFL that free agents who are signed to multi-million-dollar contracts and a team’s high draft picks are given significantly more opportunities to make the starting lineup.

There are some players on NFL rosters who are never given the chance to get first-team reps on offense or defense.

When Hank Aaron gave his acceptance speech to the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame at Cooperstown, New York —- curiously, he did not talk very much at all about baseball —- instead he focused his remarks on the critical importance of “opportunity”.

Before I provide you with my current list of the Cardinals most talented young players whom some may call JAGs, I would like to share with you a personal example with regard to opportunities in sports.

My first year of college in 1973 was at Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida. I walked on to the baseball team and was fully embraced by the legendary coach, Boyd Coffie. Coach Coffie had so much faith in me that he decided to pitch me in the game that would decide the Florida Fall League. We won that game 3-2 over Stetson and it appeared that I was being considered for the 4th or 5th pitcher in the rotation for the upcoming regular season.

Coach Coffie had a unique philosophy —- he wanted many of his pitchers to catch. Thanks to this and my experience catching an MLB 3rd round pick in high school named Jesse Wright, Coach was suggesting that, in addition to pitching, I could become one of the backup catchers. Our starting catcher was an All-American named...