NFL draft and character

[Monello]

Do you want your favorite team to take the best possible player even if they have severe character flaws? Or do you think it's better to pass of the player that will be making headlines for all the wrong reasons?

I remember Dick Vermeil saying he was going to work with Lawrence Phillips to make him a productive citizen. I think the coach was blinded by his immense talent that he never saw the train wreck in front of him.

The NFL is littered with a lot of tragic figures. Johnny football is the latest hot mess. Now this prospective draftee has a lot of red flags surrounding him. He says he wants a pet panther. He's been busted for pot, falls off a balcony drunk, may have smoke synthetic pot, got suspended from his college team for behavior, beat someone up, is facing a civil suit, has an influential, older brother that is a bad influence.

Here's a clip from the story:

At Ole Miss, Denzel became a flawed second-team All-SEC linebacker, mixing dazzling play with constant off-field issues. He was hospitalized twice this past season for undisclosed reasons. Robert became a superstar, a raw but unstoppable force. Still, there was always a sense that Robert fell short of a transcendent talent, like Jadeveon Clowney, because of off-field distractions. It all set up an odd dynamic that scouts are trying to unpack: Nkemdiche fashions himself an independent thinker, but teams consider him to be easily influenced, using one of those coded labels -- such as "uncoachable" -- to explain why they might not draft him in the first round.

He may very well fall in the draft. He will probably get a chance to silence his critics if he plays well & stays out of trouble.

character counts

 

[MR47930]

I want my team to draft the best possible player for their needs. I don't care about any character flaws as long as the production on the field isn't hindered in any way. With that being said, the definition of character flaw is open to many interpretations. Are we talking character flaw as in "He isn't very personable and doesn’t sign autographs for fans" or "He likes to diddle kids and smoke the rock during the off season"?

 

[Larry Gude]

Well, character issues.

If we were watching it 20, 30, 40 years ago like we do now, who would have never been allowed to play?

Lawrence Taylor
Most of the Oakland Raiders
Hollywood Henderson

A BUNCH more.

So, to answer the question, I, personally, don't want those guys. I wanted the Skins to get rid of Trent Williams. Why give a job that important to someone who can't behave for, what, 4-10 years? Now, Williams, it seems, became a stand up guy and is doing right by his team mates.