I love the NFL Draft. I have loved it since I was in high school, long before I wanted to become a sports reporter. The NFL draft is where my two biggest sports passions — college football and the NFL — intersect.
Gaining more insight into so many players I’ve covered in college this time of year is one of my favorite assignments. But there is one particular aspect of draft coverage I’ve found challenging: addressing character concerns about prospects. The term “character concerns” encompasses a broad range, from a player’s perceived motivation, attitude or intelligence to much more serious issues, like arrests, allegations or other legal matters.
The drafting process is, to some degree, a study in risk management. Franchises have different thresholds and make decisions based on any number of criteria, like locker room leadership, culture and coaching fits. Sometimes the concerns are warranted; sometimes, it works out.
Both Warren Sapp and Randy Moss, eventual Hall of Famers, fell in their drafts because of “character concerns” (Sapp went 12th in 1995; Moss 21st in 1998). Lawrence Phillips, who had many legal issues while at Nebraska, was drafted sixth overall in 1996 by the St. Louis Rams. The team parted ways with him less than two years later.
I reached out to several draft analysts and reporters: How do they discuss difficult prospects? How do they discern differences in “character flaws?”
“It’s definitely the most complicated part of what I do,” said The Athletic’s NFL draft analyst Dane Brugler, “because the readers deserve context. But I don’t want to kill the kid with anonymous quotes. In some cases, I give the agent a heads-up. ”
“Often I will use words like ‘maturity, decision-making and trustworthiness’ and try to make sure I distinguish between it being a football character issue or a personal character issue,” said ESPN’s Louis Riddick, a former NFL player who spent more than a decade as a scout and director of pro personnel.
NFL Network draft analyst Daniel Jeremiah leaves the specifics to the NFL Network’s insiders.
“I am always very cautious to get involved in it,” Jeremiah said. “I believe it’s a reporting issue to discuss more than an evaluation issue. I’ll use a vague definition like ‘some concerns away from the field’ or ‘some teams have medical issues.’ I don’t usually get more specific than that, even though I usually have plenty of specific information.”
Two prospects in Thursday’s draft have been part of such conversations: Tennessee edge rusher James Pearce Jr. and Marshall defensive end Mike Green. The character concerns about Pearce pertain to his on-field drive and attitude. Green’s involve allegations of sexual assault.
NFL coaches, based on conversations I’ve had, are concerned about Pearce’s maturity.
“I didn’t say anything until the last few weeks about James Pearce,” said Todd McShay of The Ringer, an analyst who worked almost two decades at ESPN. “I’ve been sitting on intel for a year, and I had more conversations at the combine.”
As it pertains to draft analysis, Pearce’s situation feels more vague; a 21-year-old’s attitude is a nuanced topic. McShay said he’s got a more than a page of notes from various sources about Pearce regarding his “football character.”
“Is he picking when he wants to be in the (Vols football) building versus when he’s supposed to? Those sorts of things,” McShay said. “So there’s nothing specific that’s an incident you can point to, but it exists. And so I can’t say James Pearce is the second-best pass rusher in this class and is a top-10 talent, but then have them sitting here at number 26 on my mock draft. If I say he’s 26 in my rankings, I’ve got some explaining to do. So that’s the hard part.”
Green, who led the nation in sacks last year, made headlines when he told reporters at the combine that there have been two allegations of sexual assault against him, both of which he denied. Green also said that he’d never been charged. It was the first time that Green, who was dismissed from the Virginia football team in September 2022, publicly revealed the nature of his dismissal. NFL teams, as well as some of the draft analysts, had known about the allegations.
ESPN draft analyst Matt Miller said that commenting on these situations goes on a case-by-case basis.
“If it’s something that’s just a rumor, I might allude to it, but won’t come out and say ‘character issues’ or ‘red flags,’” Miller said. “It’s more like, ‘Hey, I’ve heard some stuff about this player, so we gotta wait and see what happens.’ James Pearce and Mike Green were like that early on.”
McShay has plenty of experience with that. Three years ago, Georgia’s Jalen Carter was predicted by Brugler to be the No. 1 player on the board six months before the 2023 draft. A month after that, McShay went on ESPN and discussed his character.
“I know it’s early in the process,” McShay had said, “but I’m forewarning everyone out there: Carter’s going to be a hot-button name when we talk about some of the intangible aspects of it. … It’s not about his talent, about his size, or his explosive takeoff, and finishing as a pass rusher. It’s about the character: ‘Do we want to bring that guy into the building?’”
Carter’s teammates pushed back via social media, and his coaches described some of Carter’s leadership qualities. But a few weeks later, Carter was charged with reckless driving and racing, stemming from a deadly crash that killed one of his teammates and a staffer. (Carter pleaded no contest to two misdemeanor charges and was sentenced to serve 12 months’ probation, a fine and 80 hours of community service.)
McShay told me that he will only bring up talking points, like he did with Carter, if he believes they reach “a certain point.”
“Only at that point in the process where I have confirmed and have no doubt — like Carter,” he said. “Georgia fans still hate me, even though it’s been proven time and time again exactly what those character issues were. … I spent time on the phone with nine different sources that did his background check for that organization. If I’m going to go say it on ‘SportsCenter,’ I better have the information to back it up.”
Carter fell to No. 9 to the Eagles, who had a locker room stocked with strong veteran leadership as well as several respected former Georgia teammates. Last season, he earned a spot in the Pro Bowl and helped the Eagles win the Super Bowl.
Another famous player who had a concerning narrative about him, and found himself within a positive culture? Travis Kelce. When Kelce entered the draft in 2013 out of Cincinnati, Pro Football Weekly cited a scout who called the tight end a “train wreck, character-wise.” Bob McGinn, a longtime draft reporter for the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, later wrote that an anonymous NFL scout told him Kelce was a “bad guy.” An AFC scout said, “They kill him at the school. There is not one coach, head coach, who likes that kid. Anybody who does their homework on him, no way. He’s not talented enough to warrant all the other stuff.”
Kelce, who was suspended for the 2010 season (his third year at Cincinnati) after testing positive for marijuana, was drafted in the third round by the Chiefs. He has been to 10 Pro Bowls, won three Super Bowls and holds the NFL record for most receptions in the postseason. In 2020, the Chiefs nominated him for the NFL’s Walter Payton Man of the Year Award.
In my 2022 draft confidential piece, three evaluators (one scout and two NFL receivers coaches) pegged Georgia’s George Pickens as the most boom-or-bust wideout in the draft. “On tape, he is probably a top-five wide receiver, but there are just so many red flags,” said one of the coaches I interviewed. “He’s got a lot of growing up to do. If he goes to the right place with a room full of veterans that help him go the right way, I think he’ll have a chance.”
I tried to be measured in how I presented that information, knowing it would probably get aggregated a lot. (It did.) Pickens’ three-year career has mirrored much of their feedback.
He went in the second round to the Steelers and has been very productive. In his second season, he caught 63 passes for 1,140 yards and five touchdowns, but last year, coach Mike Tomlin called him out after a game publicly, urging him to “grow up.” I think it’s worth noting that Pickens is only 24 years old.
For me, there is a line I now have in what I’m comfortable writing based on intel from anonymous sources about draft prospects. It’s a bar I’ve formed over the last decade. I’m stricter about what I’m willing to include than I was years ago, and I’m very mindful whenever I’m discussing the draft on podcasts, radio or TV. But as the draft analysts noted, those issues, said or unsaid, often factor into where a prospect gets drafted, and whether they succeed or fail.
(Top photo of Mike Green: Lee Coleman / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)