NFL should be embarrassed

[BroncoInferno]

NFL should be embarrassed

By Chris Mortensen
ESPN.com
Archive

What just happened to Gaines Adams, Calvin Johnson and Amobi Okoye is ridiculous, and embarrassing for the NFL.

That's right. The league gets this black eye, even though some will blame the National Football Scouting Combine, technically an independent entity but nevertheless in direct concert with the league when some 330 draft prospects are evaluated every February in Indianapolis.

As reported by Pro Football Weekly, those three highly rated players for next week's NFL draft admitted in one-on-one video interviews conducted during the combine that they had smoked marijuana.

Those video interviews are distributed throughout the league. Sure enough, there was a leak and now the public knows.

Jeff Foster, the president of the combine, would not confirm the report but said that a standardized list of questions for the video interviews are comprised by team personnel officials and conducted by team employees, much like the individual workouts.

Foster, who has an excellent reputation, is in his first year on the job and has worked hard to lock down some confidentiality issues, such as the leaking of Vince Young's Wonderlic scores last year.

"We have changed procedures, but clubs still have a lot of control in how they disseminate information," said Foster, who expects to have further conversations with the league's competition committee about such matters.

Mind you, as far as we know, none of these players tested positive for marijuana at the combine. There is a standard list of questions each of the players was asked, and they were encouraged to be honest. Ironically, only their good character prompted them to tell the truth when they were certainly within their right to pass on the question.

Bottom line: The question never should have been asked.

For one, that's why the league has players submit urine tests at the combine. If a guy has a real problem, chances are he is going to test positive. Players know well in advance of the combine that there is going to be a drug test. If a player tests positive, he'll undergo evaluation to determine whether he needs to be randomly tested for his first two years in the league.

The truth is, every personnel director and coach in the league suspects that more than 50 percent of the players smoke or have smoked marijuana during high school or college. It's why the NFL does not randomly test players for street drugs such as marijuana because, as one league official says, "We don't want to be the police. That's the job of law enforcement."

The league tests players once each year during a three-month window before training camp. A player is only tested randomly for street drugs if he has given reasonable cause, such as providing a positive sample during precamp testing, or having a run-in with law enforcement. Then he enters the substance-abuse program. (Don't confuse this with performance-enhancing drugs that are randomly tested for year-round without cause).

What personnel people and coaches hope is that a player who has smoked in college matures quickly and understands that habitual marijuana use can interfere with job performance, and it puts his ability to earn a good amount of money at risk.

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell no doubt has had a conversation with NFL Players Association executive director Gene Upshaw about this particular leak.

It was preventable. Don't ask the question. Now, three honest young men have their reputations stained in some form during a time that should be a great celebration for them and their families.

Will it hurt their draft status? Almost certainly not.

It's funny. I'm in the information business. If I had found out about this admission by the players, I do not believe I would have reported it unless there was a verifiable positive test to also disclose. That's not to indict the Pro Football Weekly. I may be in the minority on this issue.

"In a way, I had to smile because for a while there I thought Calvin Johnson was the most perfect man to walk the Earth in modern times," said a team general manager of the Georgia Tech star.

If I were NFL commissioner, I'd be mad about this entire process and the leak, and I'd be as mad as I was about Adam "Pacman" Jones and Chris Henry embarrassing the NFL with their off-field escapades.

On behalf of the league, Goodell should see to it that someone apologizes to Adams, Johnson and Okoye.

Chris Mortensen covers the NFL for ESPN.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/draft0...ris&id=2843090

[NYBronco]

Looks like the NFL could save alot of cash from taking and analyzing urine samples to simply asking the proper questions. It appears the players are becoming more honest.

Now they just have to find a way to stop the leak (pun intended).

[SoCalBronco]

Good article with good points, thanks Inferno.

[doonwise]

Perhaps the leak was calculated: a team may have intentionally leaked the information hoping to drop these gentlemen's stock with the hope that they will fall to lower draft spots.

If your team has the information and there's no way you have a high enough pick to draft one of these guys, why not leak it? You might get lucky and land a *very* talented athlete.

[watermock]

I'm waiting for one of them to say:

"Hell yeah! But I didn't inhale!!..." then fall down in tears laughing like a Hyena.

Classic early Feburary party: Cmon' Calvin, this is good ****."

"I got the combine comin' up in two damn weeks"

"Yeah but the draft isn't till the end of April!"

[Garcia Bronco]

Who really cares if these guys have smoked dope...or continue to smoke pot...unless someone can prove it causes field performance problems..it's no different than alcohol.

[Broncos_OTM]

if the leauge is gonna crack down on problomatic people. they should ask. and reemmber these guys are given millions of dollars. so if a team deems that smoking the stuff could casue a problem of course they should be able to test. i am all for testing players randomly

[footstepsfrom#27]

All it proves is that these three happen to be honest enough to admit to using it. I'm thinking a good 75% probably have tried it at some point.

[DomCasual]

Originally Posted by Broncos_OTM

if the leauge is gonna crack down on problomatic people. they should ask. and reemmber these guys are given millions of dollars. so if a team deems that smoking the stuff could casue a problem of course they should be able to test. i am all for testing players randomly

I don't think the problem is that the league asks, or tells the teams. I think it's silly to say, "The question never should have been asked," as Mortenson says. Any employer in America that pays an employee what these guys will be getting paid has a right to know that kind of thing.

The problem, as I see it, is the leak. I almost guarantee you the leak came from a team hoping one of those players would fall.

[listopencil]

Originally Posted by Broncos_OTM

if the leauge is gonna crack down on problomatic people. they should ask. and reemmber these guys are given millions of dollars. so if a team deems that smoking the stuff could casue a problem of course they should be able to test. i am all for testing players randomly

You're high.

[Paladin]

Originally Posted by Garcia Bronco

Who really cares if these guys have smoked dope...or continue to smoke pot...unless someone can prove it causes field performance problems..it's no different than alcohol.

Well, like it or not, it IS an illegal drug..... Criminal and all, you know. Now whether that changes or not, who knows. But, right now it is an illegal drug.

[Goobzilla]

Young kids experimenting with pot?!?!

How unexpected.

[Garcia Bronco]

Originally Posted by Paladin

Well, like it or not, it IS an illegal drug..... Criminal and all, you know. Now whether that changes or not, who knows. But, right now it is an illegal drug.

It's illegal at a federal level.

[Taco John]

God made a serious mistake in the creation when he put that vile weed on the planet. What an idiot, am I right?

[Mediator12]

Originally Posted by Taco John

God made a serious mistake in the creation when he put that vile weed on the planet. What an idiot, am I right?

Nah, he put the apple in the garden too

I have to agree with DomCasual on this one. The question is not only relevant, but it also shows the character of players as a lot of the scouts have done enough digging to know that some of these guys have done it. A lot of teams ask players questions they already know the answer in order to see how they respond. The response is more important than the substance of the question. It is the same way in interviewing or counseling.

Mortenson has little basis to demand or even commentate on what questions are relevant here, because he obviously has not done his homework beyond a superficial level to understand what happened. He also misses the main point of them being brutally honest and willing to admit to poor prior behavior. That is what happens at the NFL level. Players have to admit they screwed up and be willing to fix and resolve the problem.

That receives a good interview grade and the guys they hire to shape their persona during testing know what the teams want to see. These guys have interview "coaches" who mold who they are and allow them to put their best foot forward for the teams.

As for his baseless accusations toward the league, the blame rests solely on the employee who released the information to the media. He derserves to be fired and prosecuted for his actions. Unfortunately, the laws have not caught up to the information sharing age and this person will face little recourse if caught.

The creation of a a team security director and player development director will allow for more rigorous policing of information at the team level for this kind of thing. As it is, this person will probably not get caught. Hopefully, this kind of behavior will be deterred better in the immediate future.