Former NFL Wide Receiver Curtis Conway Says Players Used to Have to Earn Respect

Former NFL veteran Curtis Conway joins Jeff Thurn on Thursday's edition of Overtime. 

Conway (@CurtisConway80) played 12 years in the NFL for Chicago, San Diego, New York Jets, and San Francisco 49ers. He now works for the Pac-12 Network, NFL Network, and Compass Media Networks. Hear his interview with Thurn right here:

As a former wide receiver in the NFL, Conway discusses how Johnny Manziel would be perceived in the locker room? 

"First of all, it's a little different time because they have so much pull today. it's ridiculous. When I played, the players still ran the locker room. So, it's one thing for a coach to like you or the GM or the fans to like you, but you have to earn, I repeat, earn their respect of the locker room and I don't see that happening in the various locker rooms with these young guys. They are coming in. They are already basically superstars and they haven't played a down. It's just so unfortunate with all the media coverage that these guys are getting leading to the draft with the fans and what everybody is saying they did in college and seeing what they can do in the pros. This is a whole different football game. You have grown men with families trying to win football games and the last thing a player wants is a guy on a football field that can stop them from winning a Super Bowl. So, I think it's a huge difference from when I played. You had to earn these guys respect versus walking in and basically given an opportunity."

*Catch Thurn daily on ESPN 99.1 from 3 to 6 p.m., follow Jeff on Twitter @jtespn991. Sam is on Twitter @samtastad.