|
National Football League
Draft King Analysis
April 5, 2009
Lou Pickney, DraftKing.com
Reader feedback is always welcomed here. Send your thoughts to Draft King at LouPickney@gmail.com.
A website report claiming that several top NFL draft prospects failed drug tests at February's NFL combine is under fire from some of the named players' agents.
Late on Thursday, the website NFLDraftBible.com
claimed in a trio of posts that UTEP kicker Jose Martinez tested positive for marijuana (citing UTEP as having confirmed it along with unnamed sources), that Boston College DT BJ Raji, Illinois CB Vontae Davis, and Florida WR Percy Harvin also tested positive for marijuana (citing unnamed sources including one NFL team), and that USC linebackers Brian Cushing and Clay Matthews tested positive for steroids (again citing unnamed sources including one NFL team).
 | B.J. Raji had a great 2008 season at Boston College. (Icon SMI)
|
|
According to the must-read ProFootballTalk.com, agents representing half of the accused on Friday denying the charges. PFT reports that Matthews' agency sent NFLDraftBible two e-mails on Friday "ultimately demanding" a retractration of the report, that Cushing's agent strongly denied the report, and that Davis' agent also issued a denial on the information on Davis.
The NFL hates these kinds of leaks, even those about player not year in the league, particularly if there are leaks coming from an NFL team. The player who could lose out the most is Raji, who had looked like a possible top five pick on some draft boards (though I've had him lower, more likely the 9-12 range). On the upside for Raji, defensive tackle is not a particularly stacked spot for this draft, so it wouldn't necessarily have the impact it might in other years. But the Boston Globe speculates that Raji may fall out of the first round. That is quite a wide range, but imagine that happening and Detroit snagging Raji at #33.
It's been interesting to watch the fallout in Washington after the Redskins' failed attempt to trade for Jay Cutler. There were rumors that the Redskins were offering Jason Campbell for a second-round pick, presumably contingent on a deal with Denver happening. Now the team turns back to Jason Campbell as its quarterback. PFT reports that Campbell is "pissed" about what happened, but that he is trying to use that anger to motivate himself to become a better quarterback.
The vibe out on Washington as of Friday was that things are positive and moving forward with Campbell and the Washington Redskins, though it is worth noting that Washington brought in QB Byron Leftwich for a tryout on Friday, albeit with the understanding that Campbell wil lbe the team's starting quarterback this fall.
With the Texans signing former Buccaneers OLB Cato June and former Colts OLB Buster Davis, perhaps this is an indication that the team plans not to use its first round pick on an OLB? Particularly with rumblings that DeMeco Ryans is not participating in off-season workouts with the team because he wants a new contract, perhaps the Texans hope to improve depth at that positions without spending too much money to do so.
NFL Draft Prospect Profiles
Draft King is owned and operated by Lou Pickney. Copyright © 2003-2025, all rights reserved. Information on this website should not be used for any gambling purposes, nor does it constitute any sort of advice, financial or otherwise.
| 