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Doug Baldwin's varied personality detailed in SI profile

The complexities of Doug Baldwin are profiled in the current issue of Sports Illustrated.

Doug Baldwin is profiled in the current (Aug. 22) issue of Sports Illustrated. (Photo: Bill Vilona/bvilona@pnj.com)

The complexities of Doug Baldwin are profiled in the current issue of Sports Illustrated.

The seven-page story on Baldwin, entitled "Unpacking Angry Doug Baldwin," and written by veteran Sports Illustrated senior writer Greg Bishop, is a look at all the varied personality traits which have helped make the Gulf Breeze High grad one of the NFL's top receivers.

The piece is one of the main features of the Aug. 22 edition of Sport Illustrated, which has the USA's top three Olympic winners — swimmers Michael Phelps and Katie Ledecky and star gymnast Simone Biles — on the cover.

Baldwin, 27, is entering his sixth season in the NFL. In 2015, he led the Seattle Seahawks with 78 receptions for 1,069 and his 14 touchdowns were the most of any NFL receiver. He's now among the unquestioned leaders as the Seahawks begin another run toward a Super Bowl.

The Seahawks rewarded Baldwin's production and his leadership with a four-year, $46 million contract that includes a guaranteed $24.5 million portion.

Baldwin retells SI what he said to ESPN a year ago, concerning the difficulties he experienced while growing up in Pensacola and racism he said he experienced at Gulf Breeze High. He reiterated that, as a sophomore on the Dolphins' team, Baldwin said a teammate had a noose hanging from the rearview mirror of his car.

In the SI story, Baldwin said the teammate, "found it funny, part of history like the Confederate Flag."

"I couldn't relate to any of them (teammates)," he said in the story.

Baldwin, who played youth football for the Salvation Army team in Pensacola, said he never felt comfortable when visiting friends, who called him a rich kid because his family lived in Gulf Breeze.

"I didn't really have anybody I was close to," said Baldwin in the SI story. "You were either with me or you weren't and if you weren't, it was like (expletive) you. I carry that to this day. I'm working through it, but it's in me."

The story also details how Baldwin called out Seahawks coach Pete Carroll during a team meeting last season as the Seahawks were in the throes of a 4-5 record. He later challenged Carroll to change elements of the way he was coaching the team.

"You're the head coach of the Seattle Seahawks," Baldwin was quoted in the SI story. "Nobody is going to tell you what you don't want to hear. But I'm not that, Pete. I'm going to tell you the truth. I can't change. I can't compromise that. We can't just say, it's going to be OK. It's not. We need change, and we need it now."

The Seahawks then won their next five games, won six of their final seven games in the regular season, won the
Wild Card playoff game against Minnesota in the third-coldest game in NFL history, before losing to the Carolina Panthers in the NFC Divisional playoff round.

Baldwin's passion, his determination and the chip-on-shoulder attitude is what has helped fuel his rapid rise into being one of the NFL's top players. After being an undrafted free agent out of Stanford in 2011, he chose the Seahawks, made the team and never looked back.

Coming out of Gulf Breeze, he had few college opportunities until Stanford took a chance on him. An outstanding student, Baldwin now spends part of his off-season, as Sports Illustrated chronicled, as a guest lecturer to a Seattle area high school with ambitions as a future math teacher.

"He is one of the more underrated people and players in the league," Seahawks general manager John Schneider told Bishop in this SI story. "I've never understood why he doesn't get more credit."

Courtesy of Sports Illustrated, here are the links for the complete story in the Aug. 22 issue now available.

Unpacking Doug Baldwin: http://on.si.com/2bPgSpu.

For Facebook: http://bit.ly/2bis4IK.

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