Atlanta Falcons: How Bad Is Ra’shede Hageman’s Mental Game?
By Sam Kweon
The Atlanta Falcons second round draft pick Ra’shede Hageman has struggled to find a strong mental game thus far.
In HBO’s Hard Knocks, about half the time the cameras and lights were on Hageman getting shouted at by the coaches in the film room or even conditioning outside. After watching this exciting show, some fans actually have Hageman labeled as a bust, asking themselves why they didn’t draft another player like Louis Nix.
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So all this leads to: exactly how bad is Hageman’s mental game, on and off the field?
If you do not already know, when Ra’shede was very little his father died, and his mother spent time in prison dealing with drug and alcohol abuse. Hageman and his brother, Xaviar, were found at the age of four and three, respectively, in the closet of a crack house, and spent subsequent years at various foster homes in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul area. He and his brother were adopted by lawyers Eric Hageman and Jill Coyle in 1998.
We don’t know if this has to do with anything related to football considering that he had a spectacular collegiate career, but maybe it is. It’s very tough to grow up with two dysfunctional parent’s like Ra’shede did.
Despite playing poorly his first two games, he stepped up in a big way last week, even recording a delivering sack. Personally, I think Hageman just needs a little time to get used to the new system, college is a lot different from the NFL. Not all Hall Of Famers start out with 10 sacks in their rookie season, it just doesn’t happen.