Being a late round draft pick isn't easy in the NFL. From a football perspective, it's like being born a second-class citizen. The only way to get out of the squalors is to work harder than everybody else and hope the right people notice you. The problem is most such citizens live their football life in obscurity. It's apparent Kylie Fitts has no intention of going down that road. He's prepared to sacrifice whatever it takes.
At least that's how he's begun his first training camp. Brief snippets along with a stream of reports from Bears training camp show the sixth round pick out of Utah is attacking every drill with a fervor that is rare. It's clear he's heard the criticisms. Injury-prone in college. Never had a true breakout season. Still unproven against top competition.
It seems this has put him in a combative mindset. He'll do whatever he has to do for the coaches to give him a chance. That's what late round picks have to realize. They aren't drafted with the guarantee of a job. They are drafted with the idea they'll get a fair opportunity. What they do with that opportunity makes the difference between a Tom Brady and a Tayo Fabuluje.
Such effort and relentless work ethic is a great thing, provided one can keep it under control.
Bears coaches warned Kylie Fitts endangering the QBs
A few decades ago, quarterbacks were often declared live during camp practices. In other words, defenders were free to hit them in drills. That's almost a non-existent thing in this modern NFL with the league being so quarterback-centric. One wrong tackle or hit and a team's season is ruined. The problem is some defenders get so amped up that during their rushes they tend to flirt hitting them anyway. Fitts encountered this situation a few times in camp. So much that head coach Matt Nagy admitted he had to warn the rookie to be more careful, resulting in an apology for the misstep.“He plays extremely hard. I have to sometimes remind him to make sure to stay away from the quarterback and the throwing motion, and he actually came up to me and apologized to me for it. But you can’t fault a kid for trying to play hard, trying to get to the quarterback. So I told him, ‘When we get to the preseason, do it as much as you want.’”
