At the risk of overusing sports, this is the place for this story. We observed yesterday that the elite are elite because they train. And they train, presumably because they want to train – they want to be better than they are. Hence the oddness of this story:

Kyler Murray’s New Contract Includes A Clause Making Him To Do 4 Hours Of ‘Independent Study’ Each Week – Robby Kaland, writing for UPROXX, July 25, 2022

I know nothing about Kyler Murray, the quarterback for NFL’s Arizona Cardinals, but I doubt that requiring someone who wouldn’t study film because he wanted to, to study film will work. As Mr. Kaland writes:

Now, for most elite quarterbacks, this is not a significant ask as many of the best are film junkies (sometimes to an upsetting and, potentially, unnecessary degree) who will watch far more four hours on their own. That the Cardinals included this section in the contract seems to indicate that wasn’t exactly the approach of Murray previously, and they don’t just expect that to change now that he’s being paid $46 million per year but are demanding so. (emphasis mine)

I can’t imagine requiring Peyton Manning, for example, to watch film. He’s done it since he was in college. Brian Costello wrote in 2014:

Manning is not the most athletic quarterback. He is not the strongest quarterback. He certainly is not the fastest. But no one can debate he is the most prepared.

Maybe requiring Murray to study film will lead to his appreciating the discipline and then doing it on his own. As we say in teaching daily time with God, the progression is sometimes, “Drudgery, discipline, delight.” If not, there are no guarantees of effectiveness.

For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. (Hebrews 12.11, ESV, emphasis mine)