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"High" Draft Picks

By Skin Patrol
Update [2007-4-19 11:10:1 by Skin Patrol]: As Adam Schefter points out, the admission should not be a cause for concern for Amobi Okoye. Also, Okoye visited with the Redskins yesterday (sorry if I forgot to mention that).
Hat Tip: Extreme Skins.

Per Pro Football Weekly:

PFW has learned that three potential top-10 picks have admitted to using marijuana. The admissions were recorded during standard interviews at the NFL Scouting Combine administered by the league to every player in attendance and submitted to all 32 teams for review.

Georgia Tech WR Calvin Johnson, Clemson DE Gaines Adams and Louisville DT Amobi Okoye, according to multiple sources who have watched the interviews, all admitted to using marijuana.

Gasp Lock your children up! Run away run away! Three young College students have admitted to prior use of marijuana. This puts them in the not-so-exclusive group of nearly half of all 12th graders in 2005 who reported a similar fact. Let the hysteria begin!
As for Okoye, scouts have a love-hate relationship with him. Some teams who became aware of his admission in the past month have said they did not think it would affect his draft stock at all. Others have deeper concerns about his work ethic, maturity level and fluctuations in his weight.
Because rather than basing his work ethic and maturity level on the fact that he graduated from High School at 16 and College at 19, we should focus on his fairly uncontroversial and honest admission of prior marijuana use? Break, give me one. Here's a hilarious quote on Adams:
"It should scare (teams), especially when you see how laid-back (Adams) is in his play," one team official said.
Obviously he looks completely blasted. The proof is in the pudding:

So I've been clear with my thoughts, though I should at least play devil's advocate for parity. The fact is drug use is a red flag because of the penalties that players can suffer as a result of failed drug tests. The question is whether Adams, Johnson, or Okoye admitted to prior experimentation or habitual use, and I doubt that any potential 1st round draft pick that gets high regularly is that honest. If I had to hazard a guess, I would wager that well over half of current NFL players have smoked marijuana at some point in their lives. If that's all Okoye, Adams, and Johnson were admitting, I consider this a trivial matter.

Does this impact the Redskins? It might help Gaines Adams fall to #6 (which could leave us with a good pick) though all the news lately is that Detroit loves the guy. This isn't going to affect Calvin Johnson's status whatsoever (and thus, not ours as it doesn't relate to him). Okoye is the wild card as there are some questions about a 19 year old kid despite his impressive accomplishments. If this makes him drop on draft boards, it means we'll be less likely to trade down to teams that have targeted him. Then again, if we do trade down it makes it more likely he'll still fall to us.

Because it's like rolling a bolder up a hill over and over again, I think I'll refrain on speculating too much over how the (non) admission (of anything important) by three First Round Draft Picks affects Your Washington Redskins. Don't let that stop you in the comments section.

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