Make the wrong choice with a prime pick, and it can set a team back for years. (Hello, Browns!)
There's more to consider than just on-field performance, although the ability to win football games can trump a lot of faults. Character issues are bigger than ever, especially with the number of NFL players being photographed in handcuffs and jumpsuits.
Aaron Hernandez, 25, was a star tight end with the always-successful Patriots. Now he's headed to prison for life with no hope of parole, and he still has another murder trial pending. Never mind that the Patriots got three good seasons out of him as a fourth-round draft pick. That life sentence reality negates the good part.
Now there's a debate about how much the Patriots knew about Hernandez's character and, presumably, the chances he might be prone to commit a capital crime (or two).
Suddenly, Le'Veon Bell's getting popped for an illegal post-practice smoke doesn't seem like the worst thing in the world.
That's the dilemma for the NFL. The coaches and evaluators sit in darkened rooms watching game tapes. They see talented players making one-handed catches and running through defenders or destroying offenses. They see difference-making players who can help win a lot of games.
But when the lights come on, they see the part of the scouting report that spells out that gifted player is also trouble, a time bomb with a hair-trigger temper and a violent streak that sometimes rages out of control.
Is the talent too good too pass up, or are the character issues too profound to take the risk?
Teams do personal interviews with possible draft picks. They gather as much information as they can about players, including off-the-field habits and associations.
A lot of teams are compiling a dossier on quarterback Jameis Winston, who is entering the draft after just two seasons at Florida State. Among the items on his record is a civil suit by a former classmate accusing him of sexual battery.
Good quarterbacks are always scarce, so they can represent especially tough calls. Your grandmother knew Johnny Manziel was on the standby list for a trip to rehab, but the Browns still took him and guaranteed him almost $7 million.
The scrutiny on Winston is so intense that one of his coaches claimed an unnamed NFL team put a spy on the plane Winston rode home from the NFL Scouting Combine. The idea, apparently, was to see him react to real-life situations.
But how should those be interpreted? If he takes too much of the arm rest, does that show he's aggressive (good) or selfish (bad)? Would an extended game of in-flight peek-a-boo with a toddler show that he's patient (good) or easily distracted (bad)? If he doesn't read the safety instruction folder, is it because he memorized it from the inbound flight (good), or just doesn't care (bad)?
Athletes under surveillance isn't new. In the 1950s, the Yankees won the pennant every year and partied like a mobile frat house. The FBI actually kept files on them for eight years. When Mickey Mantle boldly suggested his salary should be doubled in advance of the 1956 season, the GM of the Yankees quietly reminded The Mick it would be a shame if those photographs of him with a bevy of women on the road found their way into Mrs. Mantle's hands. Mantle adjusted his contract demands.
The FBI doesn't have to watch athletes today. Everyone carries a camera and can instantly post pictures or video on the Internet. A lot of people do.
With all that evidence out there, makes you wonder how teams still waste draft picks.
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--NEW BOSS
The new program director at 93.7 The Fan (KDKA-FM) is Jim Graci, who moves over from the same job at KDKA-AM.
Graci used to program ESPN 1250, so perhaps he'd be interested in shaking up The Fan by adding some of his former talent. Tim Benz went to Boston a while back, but might be interested in returning to Pittsburgh for a major role.
Stan Savran wouldn't seem to be a likely candidate. At 68 and with an old school style honed over nearly 40 years in the market, he doesn't fit the demographic The Fan profitably chases.
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