The Way We Hear It - 5 Riskiest 1st Round Picks

[mayoclinic]

Nolan Nawrocki from PFW published this in today's column:

NFL Draft - NFL draft preview and analysis from Pro Football Weekly

In a poll of NFL executives regarding potential 1st round picks with character issues, Percy Harvin was regarded as the riskiest, followed by Michael Crabtree, Rey Maualuga, Vontae Davis and BJ Raji. Best line was this: "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."

 

[upstater1]

No Andre Smith?

 

[mayoclinic]

No Andre Smith?

Darn good question. Looking at the article in more depth, the title is misleading. It looks like PFW selected 5 players with purported character issues (Harvin, Crabtree, Maualuga, Davis and Raji) and then pooled NFL execs to rank them. So "riskiest" is a misnomer. Apparently Smith was left out of the poll, presumably because he was off the charts in terms of being a boom/bust prospect.

 

[mgteich]

It matters little to me if one official of one team wouldn't draft any of the players who have perceived character issues. It might make a difference if someone was representing that the offical was from one of the top drafting teams.

Nolan Nawrocki from PFW published this in today's column:

NFL Draft - NFL draft preview and analysis from Pro Football Weekly

In a poll of NFL executives regarding potential 1st round picks with character issues, Percy Harvin was regarded as the riskiest, followed by Michael Crabtree, Rey Maualuga, Vontae Davis and BJ Raji. Best line was this: "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."

 

[VJCPatriot]

Does this mean that Maualuga and Harvin are off the Pats draft boards?

 

[DocE]

Nolan Nawrocki from PFW published this in today's column:

NFL Draft - NFL draft preview and analysis from Pro Football Weekly

In a poll of NFL executives regarding potential 1st round picks with character issues, Percy Harvin was regarded as the riskiest, followed by Michael Crabtree, Rey Maualuga, Vontae Davis and BJ Raji. Best line was this: "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."

Very interesting on Crabtree, 2nd biggest character risk in the first round? If that's truly the case, I wouldn't be surprised if he fell out of the top half of the first round. Think about it: Crabtree has good, but not great size, he's certainly not a burner and he has questions about whether he's even NFL average in terms of speed, he played in a spread offense that doesn't require NFL routes, and he's got character questions.

If he was 6'4 or ran 4.40, I could see the character issue not hurting him that badly, but he seems to have a significant question at every level of the scouting process with the exception of college production.

 

[Ungeheuer]

I was thinking about this the other day and it seems to me that some or all of these players might be available when the Pats pick.

Raji I bet is off half of the teams' draft boards for the simple reason that he's already got one strike. That's a nightmarish thing to have to worry about if you're picking the guy in the first round, particularly high in the first round -- and most of the teams that need Raji are high up (Cleveland, Green Bay, Denver, Kansas City). Once he falls past Denver you get a couple of 3-4 teams that are set at the nose (Jets, San Diego) and a bunch of 4-3 teams that you can be sure would rather have Jerry or Tyson Jackson. Seems to me that if Denver or Detroit do not pick Raji with their second picks, he'll fall to the second round.

Likewise Harvin will probably be there. There's no way he comes off the board before Maclin and Crabtree (and probably also Heyward-Bey), which rules out the top-10 teams. The one team in the teens that really could use him more than any other, the Jets, will probably pass. Harvin sounds like an injury risk and a behavior risk both, which makes you think that nobody would take him with their first pick. You'd think the Steelers might take him, but they need OL help so badly, it's hard to imagine them risking him with the last pick. Arizona and the Giants are two other teams that could use him, but they both have just had to deal with a high-maintenance wideout. So he could easily fall.

From what I've read Harvin's behavior issues have a lot to do with him being too amped up -- he at least seems to care about football. If you're the Pats and he's there at 34, how do you pass him up? He might be the most explosive player in the draft. He adds speed to your receiver corps and your backfield and special teams.

Crabtree on the other hand won't make it to New England because even if he falls out of the top 10, he will never make it past the Jets, Bucs and Eagles. Likeiwse I don't see Maualuga falling that far, but then again maybe we don't know the whole story there, what all the red flags are.

The Pats are in an unusual spot. They have a nearly-full roster and tons of high picks. Does that make them more or less likely to gamble on talent like this? It's an interesting question.

 

[sinned86]

From what I've read Harvin's behavior issues have a lot to do with him being too amped up -- he at least seems to care about football. If you're the Pats and he's there at 34, how do you pass him up? He might be the most explosive player in the draft. He adds speed to your receiver corps and your backfield and special teams.

I know I'm in the minority but if Harvin's there at 23 I'd take a long, hard look at him. At 23 I see him being good value. Like you said he plays hard and tough and he seems really amped up on the field. I see him as a great special teamer right away and possibly a 5-10 play-a-game guy on offense right away. RB? WR? Wildcat? Running reverses? I don't know exactly where his niche will be but if anyone in the NFL can make use of this guy it'd be BB.

Perhaps there's no room for him with our offensive talent right now. But he can be a playmaker in the future I think.

I know defense needs to be our draft focus this year. But we still have to not ignore value picks if they fall to us. I can see us taking him at 23 and trading up from 34 if we are targeting a specific defensive player/offensive line player. Maybe he'll be less valuable than 23 on our big board. But who knows? I'd not be surprised if we take Harvin at 23 or 34 if available.

 

[dryheat44]

Best line was this: "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."

The answer's cow manure, right?

 

[patchick]

Crabtree's ego is "abnormally large"? Think about that...abnormally large for a #1 WR. How crazy big must that be?

 

[ayjackson]

The answer's cow manure, right?

It has to be rabbit turd actually. Rabbits have inefficient digestive systems that leave a lot of nutrients in the pooo. That's why my dog and other animals (including rabbits) eat rabbit pooo. The key of course would be to get some turd that followed a decent meal, not a meal of turd.

But then, I'm just an accountant.

 

[patchick]

It has to be rabbit turd actually. Rabbits have inefficient digestive systems that leave a lot of nutrients in the pooo. That's why my dog and other animals (including rabbits) eat rabbit pooo. The key of course would be to get some turd that followed a decent meal, not a meal of turd.

I learn so much from this board. As we speak, I'm abandoning my plan to dine on the droppings of a dog who ate rabbit turds. Thanks for the heads up!

 

[bucky]

I know I'm in the minority but if Harvin's there at 23 I'd take a long, hard look at him. At 23 I see him being good value. Like you said he plays hard and tough and he seems really amped up on the field. I see him as a great special teamer right away and possibly a 5-10 play-a-game guy on offense right away. RB? WR? Wildcat? Running reverses? I don't know exactly where his niche will be but if anyone in the NFL can make use of this guy it'd be BB.

Perhaps there's no room for him with our offensive talent right now. But he can be a playmaker in the future I think.

I know defense needs to be our draft focus this year. But we still have to not ignore value picks if they fall to us. I can see us taking him at 23 and trading up from 34 if we are targeting a specific defensive player/offensive line player. Maybe he'll be less valuable than 23 on our big board. But who knows? I'd not be surprised if we take Harvin at 23 or 34 if available.

I agree with you. I'm not so sure Harvin's issues are so horrible. If he's there at 23, you have to really consider him. Same thing with Raji. It's not even clear of the drug test rumors are true. And if they are, which drug was it? Testing positive for steroids didn't seem to be a problem for Castillo.

I'd think both of those guys "character issues" are less of a concern that Merriweather's gun toting.

 

[rookBoston]

Randy Moss dropped in the draft under this type of reasoning. If Raji or Maualuga fall to us, I wouldn't be all that upset about the idea of scoring top-10 talent at #23.

 

[apple strudel]

Randy Moss dropped in the draft under this type of reasoning. If Raji or Maualuga fall to us, I wouldn't be all that upset about the idea of scoring top-10 talent at #23.

I still haven't seen off-field character issues about Maualuga that are worse than Peyton dropping his balls on a trainer's face or Eli's drinking photos. They went #1. The only issue to me whether or not he can work hard.

 

[patchick]

I still haven't seen off-field character issues about Maualuga that are worse than Peyton dropping his balls on a trainer's face or Eli's drinking photos.

Really? I don't see how a photo of Eli with a dopey expression compares to Maualuga's misdemeanor assault conviction.

 

[apple strudel]

Really? I don't see how a photo of Eli with a dopey expression compares to Maualuga's misdemeanor assault conviction.

Is punching a guy at a Halloween party more or less redeemable than sexual assault?

Edit: Eli doesn't seem to have hurt anybody else, but a lot of people have been down on Maualuga for his drinking, so that's my point with the Eli comparison.

 

[Clonamery]

Is punching a guy at a Halloween party more or less redeemable than sexual assault?

Edit: Eli doesn't seem to have hurt anybody else, but a lot of people have been down on Maualuga for his drinking, so that's my point with the Eli comparison.

Your word choice damns your POV/objectivity.

 

[apple strudel]

Your word choice damns your POV/objectivity.

Stick to the arguments. This is not cable news. To be honest, I'm completely undecided on the guy and I'm trying to find out what kind of guy he really is, and doing so in the context of some of the NFL's leading citizens. I don't think anybody on this board really knows. That's the crux of the character evaluation problem, is it not?

 

[patchick]

Is punching a guy at a Halloween party more or less redeemable than sexual assault?

The details of the "sexual assault," as you put it, never came out until years after Manning was drafted when he called the victim nasty names in a book, leading her to sue. So there could not have been an effect on his draft status.