skinsfan_nn
04-20-2007, 09:31 AM
PFT.com
POSTED 8:31 a.m. EDT; LAST UPDATED 8:58 a.m. EDT, April 20, 2007
TEAMS UNHAPPY ABOUT POT ADMISSION LEAK
We've heard from several league sources regarding the recent report that receiver Calvin Johnson, defensive end Gaines Adams, and defensive tackle Amobi Okoye admitted to smoking marijuana during a league-conducted combine interview.
And none of them are pleased that the information was leaked.
The primary complaint is that the NFL and the teams persuade these players to be honest and candid. Their reward for doing so? Someone blabbed.
One league source believes that the team or teams responsible for the disclosure reside near the bottom of and/or on the fringes of the top ten in the first-round draft order, and that the team or teams are hoping that the information will cause the players to slide . . . because the team or teams who leaked the information would love to draft them.
There also is suspicion that the story was stoked by agents with players in the top ten other than Johnson, Adams, and Okoye.
From the media's perspective, it's definitely newsworthy information. But we can see why the league, most of the NFL teams, and the NFLPA would be upset by such shenanigans -- especially since this will prompt most agents to tell their draft-eligible clients to never, ever, ever (did we say ever?) admit to marijuana usage. From the NFL's standpoint, all that matters is whether you pass the piss test; without a positive result, there's no way to prove that a guy is a smoker, a joker, and/or a midnight toker.
With all that said, teams generally don't care whether a guy has smoked weed in college. Who in the hell hasn't? The issue is whether the guy has a pot problem. Because if the guy has a problem, he's more likely to generate positive drug tests. And that eventually will force him to spend a season (or more) in Canada, instead of contributing to the NFL team that took a chance on him.
POSTED 8:31 a.m. EDT; LAST UPDATED 8:58 a.m. EDT, April 20, 2007
TEAMS UNHAPPY ABOUT POT ADMISSION LEAK
We've heard from several league sources regarding the recent report that receiver Calvin Johnson, defensive end Gaines Adams, and defensive tackle Amobi Okoye admitted to smoking marijuana during a league-conducted combine interview.
And none of them are pleased that the information was leaked.
The primary complaint is that the NFL and the teams persuade these players to be honest and candid. Their reward for doing so? Someone blabbed.
One league source believes that the team or teams responsible for the disclosure reside near the bottom of and/or on the fringes of the top ten in the first-round draft order, and that the team or teams are hoping that the information will cause the players to slide . . . because the team or teams who leaked the information would love to draft them.
There also is suspicion that the story was stoked by agents with players in the top ten other than Johnson, Adams, and Okoye.
From the media's perspective, it's definitely newsworthy information. But we can see why the league, most of the NFL teams, and the NFLPA would be upset by such shenanigans -- especially since this will prompt most agents to tell their draft-eligible clients to never, ever, ever (did we say ever?) admit to marijuana usage. From the NFL's standpoint, all that matters is whether you pass the piss test; without a positive result, there's no way to prove that a guy is a smoker, a joker, and/or a midnight toker.
With all that said, teams generally don't care whether a guy has smoked weed in college. Who in the hell hasn't? The issue is whether the guy has a pot problem. Because if the guy has a problem, he's more likely to generate positive drug tests. And that eventually will force him to spend a season (or more) in Canada, instead of contributing to the NFL team that took a chance on him.