Draftees Beware
By Richard Rogers
Every NFL team looks good on paper in May. The draft comes and fans like me think we know what we’re getting in the players we drafted. The optimism is so strong that we convince ourselves that our team’s 7th round selection will be a week one starter. Okay, I may be over-exaggerating a bit, but the draft brings new hopes and dreams for many teams and its fans. But with the draft comes controversy, and the 2017 draft was no different. Joe Mixon, the highly touted and gifted running back out of the University of Oklahoma was thought by many to be the best back in the draft. Unfortunately, he would not be the first running back off the board. Over a year ago, Joe Mix on was caught on video punching a woman in the face in a local bar. There were disputes as to who started it, but there was no way Mix on would survive the court of public opinion on this. The Ray Rice video is fresh in the minds of football fans everywhere. This was too similar. But the assault is not my angle here. It’s what recently happened just before the draft. There was a settlement between Mix on and his attorneys and the young lady and her representatives. Settlement usually means, somebody got paid. In the settlement agreement, the victim said, “we both could have handled the situation better”. See how conciliatory money can make people. I have no insight or information as to the young lady’s injuries or if there is any longstanding suffering, but laughter ain’t the best medicine, money is. Mix on put himself in a horrible situation. He knew how it would end up. It’s probably why it was settled before the draft and why he was picked higher than most projected.
This brings me to the Caleb Brantley incident in which he was alleged to have punched a young woman in the face knocking her to the ground and dislodging her tooth. This also conveniently came up just before the draft. But Brantley was not so quick to want to settle. In fact, he steadfastly and publicly declared that he would not offer a financial settlement. To my knowledge, there was no video in this situation and accounts of the incident are conflicting. I’d have to go back and check, but it seems like many, not all, of these stories come out just before or right after the draft.
Remember Jamison Crowder’s incident right after he was drafted in 2015? His estranged girlfriend posted pictures on Instagram with what appeared to be bruises on her face and lips. Given the cursed history of this franchise over recent years, I cringed and prepared for the worst, but it was as Crowder described, someone hacked his account. Imagine the 2015 season with Crowder out for a few games. I don’t want to think about it.
Let’s keep this in perspective. These are young men in college in their late teens and early twenties, and they do stupid, and sometimes illegal stuff. If they do the crime, they should do the time, but they also need to take some personal responsibility. La’el Collins, newly named right tackle for the Dallas Cowboys cost himself millions of dollars after took pictures of himself smoking a bong full of weed. I think recent events with draftees should be a lesson to those coming behind them. If you’re going to get drafted, beware. There are people in this world who would go to great lengths to garnish your earnings or destroy your future. Secondly, the stupid and sometimes illegal stuff you do in your early twenties can cost you, and make someone else rich. So, beware, and get a bodyguard if need be. It’s cheaper to pay him, than them.