As the former general manager of the Buffalo Bills, Buddy Nix has had to overlook a college player’s past history with marijuana use more than once.
In fact, with this year’s National Football League draft beginning this evening, Nix noted: “If I’d had to cull every player from my draft list who smoked marijuana in college, I’d have had to draft sports writers.”
Told that talent pool might not have a much better record of avoiding the wacky tobaccee, Nix added, “The one thing that bothered me (about former Missouri star Shane Ray being pulled over Monday morning with a small bag of pot in his car) was the timing. You’re within a few days of being a No. 1 draft pick, of signing for millions of dollars, and you take that kind of risk. That’s like these guys who test positive (for a banned substance) at the combine. They know exactly what day they’re going to get tested. They know how long a banned substance can stay in their system. When they test positive, you figure they’re either stupid or they were hurt.”
This is just part of the background the NFL’s 32 GMs must sort through as they weigh the pros and cons of each available player. This is the pressure that comes with putting your faith in a 22-year-old who could impact your franchise positively or negatively for years, if not decades to come.
(For proof, merely consider how different the Indianapolis Colts’ history might have been if the Horseshoes had taken Ryan Leaf instead of Peyton Manning in the 1998 draft.)