Post by TheShadow on Apr 25, 2007 19:02:54 GMT -5
www.nydailynews.com/
BY GARY MYERS
DAILY NEWS SPORTS COLUMNIST
Roger Goodell has no trouble disciplining players. Now he has to get tough with the teams, too.
He should fine all 32 clubs and anybody else with access to the DVD of player interviews conducted at the combine. It was an embarrassment to the league and a breach of confidentiality when someone told Pro Football Weekly that Georgia Tech WR Calvin Johnson, Clemson DE Gaines Adams and Louisville DT Amobi Okoye, who will all be top picks, said in their interviews they had used marijuana.
For years, players have sat down for taped interviews at the combine that are then distributed to the clubs. They can be helpful because it's impossible for every team to do its own interviews with every player. One of the many questions asked is whether they ever used marijuana. "The information is supposed to be confidential," one league official said.
If the question is asked again next year, what are the chances any player would admit to marijuana use? "Why be honest?" one GM asked. "What happened encourages guys to lie."
The league drug-tests players at the combine, so the marijuana question was not necessary. "If you test positive, you are a knucklehead," one prominent agent said. "If you admit use, you are straightforward."
Gene Upshaw, the NFLPA executive director, says the key is whether a player has flunked a test. "What a guy tried when he was 16 years old I don't think has any relevance whatsoever in what (he's) doing at the age of 21 or 22, trying to get into the NFL," he told Sirius Radio.
Three general managers I spoke with said they didn't even watch the interviews with Johnson, Adams or Okoye. Johnson may be as highly regarded as any player since Stanford quarterback John Elway in 1983. One GM said Johnson is considered a "model citizen." Marijuana doesn't raise the same red flags as cocaine or steroids do.
"We're looking for dirt because nobody wants to be surprised on draft day," one GM said. "It's stupid. We don't think it through. Everybody knows our laundry."
HAIL TO HOKIES: The NFL will pay tribute to Virginia Tech at the draft Saturday at Radio City Music Hall less than two weeks after the massacre at the school. Coach Frank Beamer and former Hokies Bruce Smith, Michael Vick and DeAngelo Hall will be present. The league invited Beamer to bring along members of his team, especially those expected to be drafted this weekend. Beamer decided not to have any of his players come to New York. ... After passing on Philip Rivers and Ben Roethlisberger in 2004 to take OT Robert Gallery, a huge disappointment, and passing on Matt Leinart and Jay Cutler last year to take safety Michael Huff, Al Davis and the Raiders are expected to take LSU QB JaMarcus Russell with the first pick on Saturday. It's still possible they will take Johnson, the consensus best player in the draft. But Randy Moss has disappeared in Oakland without a quarterback. So why take Johnson when the QB right now is Andrew Walter? ... The Lions, at No. 2, want to trade down, but the pick loses value if the Raiders take Johnson. The Bucs (No. 4), Redskins (No. 6) and Falcons (No. 8) all want him. The Redskins have no ammunition to move up. Their next pick is in the fifth round, No. 143, and the Lions need immediate help.
Detroit would like to move down and take Clemson's Adams or Wisconsin T Joe Thomas - neither is worth the $20 million-$25 million in guarantees the second pick will command. If Detroit doesn't get an acceptable offer, it could take Johnson and then play the market, much like the Chargers did when they took Eli Manning at No. 1 in 2004. That put the pressure on the Giants to make a deal. Detroit could try that with Bucs coach Jon Gruden, who desperately wants Johnson. If they can't make a deal, the Lions must be content with Johnson. GM Matt Millen, who is a devastating 24-72 in six seasons, has taken three receivers in the top 10 in the last four drafts: Charles Rogers (cut), Roy Williams (Pro Bowl) and Mike Williams (a bust so far). Can he take a fourth wideout? He can rationalize it by saying he got the best player in the draft.
SKIN DEEP: Still think there's a good chance the Redskins will trade for Chicago's unhappy franchise LB Lance Briggs, but they are going to have to do better than swapping No. 6 in exchange for Briggs and No. 31. The Bears would do the deal if the Skins included LB Rocky McIntosh, their second-round pick last year. ... The Dolphins want Chiefs QB Trent Green, who played for new coach Cam Cameron when he was the QB coach in Washington. But Miami is unwilling to give up a second-rounder, understandable after it burned No. 2s on QBs A.J. Feeley and Daunte Culpepper....If the Raiders take Johnson, then Culpepper, who may soon be an ex-Dolphin, could wind up reunited with Moss in Oakland.
BY GARY MYERS
DAILY NEWS SPORTS COLUMNIST
Roger Goodell has no trouble disciplining players. Now he has to get tough with the teams, too.
He should fine all 32 clubs and anybody else with access to the DVD of player interviews conducted at the combine. It was an embarrassment to the league and a breach of confidentiality when someone told Pro Football Weekly that Georgia Tech WR Calvin Johnson, Clemson DE Gaines Adams and Louisville DT Amobi Okoye, who will all be top picks, said in their interviews they had used marijuana.
For years, players have sat down for taped interviews at the combine that are then distributed to the clubs. They can be helpful because it's impossible for every team to do its own interviews with every player. One of the many questions asked is whether they ever used marijuana. "The information is supposed to be confidential," one league official said.
If the question is asked again next year, what are the chances any player would admit to marijuana use? "Why be honest?" one GM asked. "What happened encourages guys to lie."
The league drug-tests players at the combine, so the marijuana question was not necessary. "If you test positive, you are a knucklehead," one prominent agent said. "If you admit use, you are straightforward."
Gene Upshaw, the NFLPA executive director, says the key is whether a player has flunked a test. "What a guy tried when he was 16 years old I don't think has any relevance whatsoever in what (he's) doing at the age of 21 or 22, trying to get into the NFL," he told Sirius Radio.
Three general managers I spoke with said they didn't even watch the interviews with Johnson, Adams or Okoye. Johnson may be as highly regarded as any player since Stanford quarterback John Elway in 1983. One GM said Johnson is considered a "model citizen." Marijuana doesn't raise the same red flags as cocaine or steroids do.
"We're looking for dirt because nobody wants to be surprised on draft day," one GM said. "It's stupid. We don't think it through. Everybody knows our laundry."
HAIL TO HOKIES: The NFL will pay tribute to Virginia Tech at the draft Saturday at Radio City Music Hall less than two weeks after the massacre at the school. Coach Frank Beamer and former Hokies Bruce Smith, Michael Vick and DeAngelo Hall will be present. The league invited Beamer to bring along members of his team, especially those expected to be drafted this weekend. Beamer decided not to have any of his players come to New York. ... After passing on Philip Rivers and Ben Roethlisberger in 2004 to take OT Robert Gallery, a huge disappointment, and passing on Matt Leinart and Jay Cutler last year to take safety Michael Huff, Al Davis and the Raiders are expected to take LSU QB JaMarcus Russell with the first pick on Saturday. It's still possible they will take Johnson, the consensus best player in the draft. But Randy Moss has disappeared in Oakland without a quarterback. So why take Johnson when the QB right now is Andrew Walter? ... The Lions, at No. 2, want to trade down, but the pick loses value if the Raiders take Johnson. The Bucs (No. 4), Redskins (No. 6) and Falcons (No. 8) all want him. The Redskins have no ammunition to move up. Their next pick is in the fifth round, No. 143, and the Lions need immediate help.
Detroit would like to move down and take Clemson's Adams or Wisconsin T Joe Thomas - neither is worth the $20 million-$25 million in guarantees the second pick will command. If Detroit doesn't get an acceptable offer, it could take Johnson and then play the market, much like the Chargers did when they took Eli Manning at No. 1 in 2004. That put the pressure on the Giants to make a deal. Detroit could try that with Bucs coach Jon Gruden, who desperately wants Johnson. If they can't make a deal, the Lions must be content with Johnson. GM Matt Millen, who is a devastating 24-72 in six seasons, has taken three receivers in the top 10 in the last four drafts: Charles Rogers (cut), Roy Williams (Pro Bowl) and Mike Williams (a bust so far). Can he take a fourth wideout? He can rationalize it by saying he got the best player in the draft.
SKIN DEEP: Still think there's a good chance the Redskins will trade for Chicago's unhappy franchise LB Lance Briggs, but they are going to have to do better than swapping No. 6 in exchange for Briggs and No. 31. The Bears would do the deal if the Skins included LB Rocky McIntosh, their second-round pick last year. ... The Dolphins want Chiefs QB Trent Green, who played for new coach Cam Cameron when he was the QB coach in Washington. But Miami is unwilling to give up a second-rounder, understandable after it burned No. 2s on QBs A.J. Feeley and Daunte Culpepper....If the Raiders take Johnson, then Culpepper, who may soon be an ex-Dolphin, could wind up reunited with Moss in Oakland.