Pro Football Weekly: Five Draftees With Character Issues

As we head down the backstretch to the NFL draft, every aspect of every potential first-round player continues to be researched by each NFL franchise. After all, they are about to sink millions of dollars into what is essentially a kid. With the Pac Man Joneses and Ryan Leafs of the world exhibiting a variety of negative character issues, teams are paying more attention than ever to background checks.

According to Pro Football Weekly, there are five highly regarded prospects who have raised serious red flags to five "high-level league executives" they polled: Percy Harvin, Michael Crabtree, Rey Maualuga, Vontae Davis, and B.J. Raji. And they aren't just a little scared of drafting these guys.

One top-ranking official, who said he would not draft any of them, compared the exercise to trying to decide between whether he'd rather eat cow manure, drink monkey urine or ingest rabbit turds.

Yikes. Tell us how you really feel. For what it's worth, Harvin seems to be the one drawing the most ire.

I have to say, I'm not sure I'm a fan of this sort of reporting. I have no problem with PFW for gathering and passing along the information, because it could be relevant. Still, it's a pretty rough task to sit here and single these guys out with the proverbial red flag.

Didn't Warren Sapp and Randy Moss plummet down draft boards because of alleged character issues, just to name two? Ryan Leaf, however, didn't seem to have many character concerns, and he got along with no one during his tumultuous tenure in San Diego. What about Tony Mandarich?

Generally speaking, I think the teams run the risk of taking a problem child with any player in the entire draft. Let's face it, you have a group of guys in their early-20s who are about to become millionaires, and they've likely been pampered since their mid-teens anyway. The risks are there with every single pick, plus, many have been in trouble anyway.

"I don't know what it is," one NFL executive said. "I'm not sure if it is a societal thing, but everyone seems like they have hickeys nowadays. Maybe it's the Internet and the access to more information than we ever had - I don't know - but it's difficult to find many players that do not have blemishes."

Well, Mr. Executive, there's a reason for that. It's difficult to find many people without blemishes on their personal record. These guys have been under a microscope for all of recent memory, so of course there are negative things to be found.

I almost felt sorry for these five players due to this story. Then I realized they are about to make millions of dollars to play football. I guess you take the bad with the good, eh?

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

4-10-2009 @ 3:42PM

LADubbz45 said...

why theres gotta be someone always trying to bring someone else down. Is it because its the NFL off season and PRO FOOTBALL WEEKLY has nothing else to say this week? All sports writers should have a part time job at like at McDonalds. and you guys now have a choice:

Write some loser story to get "noticed" or just drive down to ur MikeyD's and flip burgers. Seriously, you'd be contributing the same quality of work to the entire world.

4-10-2009 @ 6:44PM

familytijerina said...

what character issues does michael crabtree have? he was at texas tech for three years and he never was in any trouble or even mentioned in any wrong doings... i live in lubbock and have never heard of him doing anything illegal or wrong here... yeah he is cocky, but thats about it... guess i missed something that they caught

4-10-2009 @ 7:00PM

Matt Snyder said...

They elaborated in the linked article ... click on the highlighted part before my blockquote.

4-10-2009 @ 7:14PM

dave said...

No problem-the Bengals, Skins, Cowboys and Raiders will make all of them millionaires, then have their fan base pay for it. The NFL has to implement a rookie slary cap, not just to avoid grossly overpaying a kid and his posse, which is a big part of this issue, but also to make sure veterans aren't targeted to be cut after giving a 21 yo a 30 million dollar guarantee.

4-11-2009 @ 1:14AM

Brian said...

Hey Dave, I get what you are saying here, but you can take the Skins of this list. We might pay players a lot of money, but we definitely let character weigh in on whether or not they are worth it. The Cowboys are, on the other hand, a perfect example of not caring about a players red-flags. Shoot, Michael Irvin was openly a coke/crack head and nobody ever had a problem with it. Unfortunately they still won. Now they aren't winning, thank god, with these character guys. But still, the Skins pay top dollar, but not for problem-children.

4-11-2009 @ 9:02AM

Justin said...

Isn't this the same site that reported the fake failed drug test? They're just looking for hits and people are giving them what they want.

4-11-2009 @ 1:32PM

mike said...

Just looking for a story. Any news is good news for them, unfortunately.

4-11-2009 @ 1:44PM

I personally like players that cause waves because they do it stemming from how passionate they are. (RAY LEWIS) I know I did it while playing but thats only cause'I cared so much. I don't have allot of respect for a "lets just play it safe" kinda guy. I want a Ray Lewis thats gonna rip your head off and keep his teammates in check. Those are your true leaders. They set the tone for the game.