NFL personnel men concerned by marijuana 'epidemic' in draft class of 2010
Thu, 03/25/2010 - 06:35
 Coming out of Florida, Percy Harvin tested positive for marijuana at the NFL combine but was still drafted in the first round by the Vikings. Credit Getty Images. | Great read, very amusing and probably an indication that the NFL will pull Cannabis off of the banned substance list before too much longer. They can't afford to lose the best players just because of some marijuana use. Excerpted from: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/writers/don_banks/03/23/nfl.draft.marijuana/index.html?xid=cnnbin&hpt=Sbin ORLANDO -- There's a widespread belief within the NFL that the 2010 draft represents one of the deepest and most promising pools of collegiate talent in years. But in addition to the vast potential of this year's draft class, numerous NFL personnel evaluators told SI.com they are concerned about the increased number of prospects who have a history of marijuana use in their background, with players often acknowledging a failed drug test for pot in college in interviews with team executives. ... According to one veteran club personnel man, 10 or 11 players who carry first-round draft grades on their board this year have been red-flagged for marijuana use in college, an estimate echoed by two clubs' head coaches. Another NFL head coach estimated that "one-third'' of the players on his club's draft board had some sort of history with marijuana use and would thus require an extra level of evaluation as part of the pre-draft scouting process. "Marijuana use is almost epidemic, with more guys having tested positive for marijuana at some point in their college background than I can ever remember,'' said a longtime team personnel man. "It's almost as if we are having to figure out a new way to evaluate it as part of the character and background report, because it's so prevalent. There're enough instances of it that it's hard to know how to set your board. You can't throw out that many guys. You have to go case-by-case and do your homework on them.'' |
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