I lived in St. Louis when the Rams picked Lawrence Phillips -- a talented thug with a tendency towards violence and a history of abuse of women. I was shocked -- but hey, he was the best player out there, so what were the Rams to do? It was a gamble that didn't pay off.

Now, such a pick might not happen -- because the NFL has begun to crack down on bad behavior.

Many NFL team officials say they will be less likely to draft players who misbehave off the field because of the league's new conduct policy, which allows Commissioner Roger Goodell to impose lengthy suspensions on misbehaving players and punish clubs with significant numbers of offenders.

Baltimore Ravens General Manager Ozzie Newsome said that he and his peers have been feeling additional pressure since Goodell first told them during a meeting of general managers at February's NFL scouting combine in Indianapolis that teams would be held accountable for players' misdeeds.

"That falls on us," Newsome said, "that there are some players now we may have to pass on because I don't want to put [Ravens owner] Steve Bisciotti in that position or put this organization in that position to be held accountable for a player that I knew had some issues."

Such considerations during the pre-draft evaluation process are not entirely new to scouts, executives and coaches. With millions of dollars in player contracts at stake, it has long been standard practice for teams to conduct background checks and probe players' psyches in interviews. With some regularity, players have plummeted on draft day because of fears by teams about possible misbehavior.

At next weekend's NFL draft, the issue could be an important one. Pro Football Weekly reported Wednesday that three top draft prospects -- Georgia Tech wide receiver Calvin Johnson, Clemson defensive end Gaines Adams and Louisville defensive tackle Amobi Okoye -- admitted to past marijuana use during interviews that the league tapes with players at the combine and distributes to the teams. But there's been no indication that any of the three failed the drug tests taken by players at the combine. That falls under the league's substance abuse policy, not the conduct policy, and it's unlikely that their draft status will be significantly affected.

Other draft-eligible players with conduct-related issues include Florida defensive tackle Marcus Thomas, who was dismissed from the team in November for violating the terms of his pending reinstatement from a suspension for violating the school's substance abuse policy; Texas running back Ramonce Taylor, who was arrested last year on a marijuana charge; Texas cornerback Tarell Brown, who was arrested in September on drug and weapon charges and last month on a marijuana charge (the drug charge from September was dropped); UNLV cornerback Eric Wright, who left Southern California after being arrested in 2005 on suspicion of sexual assault, although prosecutors declined to press charges because of insufficient evidence; and California running back Marshawn Lynch, who in January was accused of sexual assault and domestic violence by a former girlfriend but was not charged. Lynch is being projected by many draft observers as a first-round selection.

Now this will be interesting -- do some of these players drop in the draft given the new policy -- including the recent suspensions of two NFL stars? Or will it be business as usual for the teams?

Posted by: Greg at 10:19 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 568 words, total size 4 kb.

1 comment6, Buy keeley hazell sex tape
, 089, Kim Kardashian Sex Tape Real
, > ((, Nice free erotic stories
, =), ray j sex tape
, =OOO, Noelia Sex Tape Great
, 817543,

Posted by: rindonaziz at Sun Feb 22 20:08:02 2009 (WEVCQ)

Hide Comments | Add Comment