The beauty of HBO's "Hard Knocks" comes with the raw emotions that players show when injuries occur and/or when they are released from the team. Last Tuesday on the third episode, we saw former top-ten pick Aaron Maybin strike out with his third team in five years. Maybin took it as classy as possible and remains confident that he will land on his feet.
On Wednesday, we relayed the news that Maybin's unique artwork had a big rise in sales, thanks to the exposure that the works received on the show. Shortly after the airing of the show, Maybin spoke with The Sporting News about his art career and thoughts on his NFL future.
"I was drawing and painting before I was talking, but growing up my parents were always interested in art," Maybin said.
"Football is always the first priority. As big of a part as [art] is, as much as I love it and as big a future as I see for myself, I still have a great love for this game and I have a lot of football left and there are still a whole lot of things I feel like I want to accomplish," Maybin said. "I am going to continue to train and prepare myself to play, hopefully this season, given the opportunity from another team."
Interestingly enough, Maybin has said that both college and pro teammates have purchased his works in the past. Still, he hadn't seen such a boom in his art business until after Tuesday night. It sounds as if Maybin watched the show on Tuesday, but he told TSN that he had his phone off, likely because he didn't want to hear from a multitude of people during a tough time in his career.
As we discussed on the Who Dey Weekly podcast on Wednesday, Maybin could get another chance somewhere, but he would likely have to be a backup guy in the perfect system. He has the ability to rush the passer, so a 3-4 defense could be the best spot for him as a situational pass rusher. Best of luck to Maybin in the future, both in his art and NFL careers.