In the wake of NFL suspensions handed down to Tennessee Titans defensive back Adam “Pacman” Jones (season-long) and Cincinnati Bengals running back Chris Henry (eight games) for their multiple off-the-field incidents, the value of looking for good character players will be magnified in this year?s draft.
The Baltimore Ravens are no exceptions to this approach as they prepare for their 12th draft April 28-29.
Ravens general manager Ozzie Newsome said weighing a player?s character is something the team has always done, going back to the team?s first draft when they chose offensive lineman Jonathan Ogden over running back Lawrence Phillips.
“We have a history now of guys that not only we?ve taken but guys that other team have taken,” Newsome said on examining a player?s character. “When you come across other players that have those histories and have those problems, that presents a red flag to us and we?ll pass on them. But then you have other players who came into our league, matured and became good citizens for the league.”
But the Ravens have not been immune to off-the-field problems by their draft picks. Linebacker Ray Lewis pleaded guilty in 2000 to obstruction of justice in connection to a murder case in Atlanta. Former running back Jamal Lewis spent four months in federal prison in 2005 after pleading guilty to a charge of using a cell phone to help a friend make a drug deal.
And more recently, return specialist B.J. Sams was arrested in October for driving under the influence, his second such offense in a 14-month span.
Ravens director of college scouting Eric DeCosta said the team has always felt pressure to avoid troubled players and those who may have questionable character issues.
“We?d rather not deal with those types of players,” DeCosta said.
New NFL commissioner Roger Goodell?s hard-line approach to troubled players will make the Ravens examine a player?s character even more than in previous years, according to Newsome.
“When the commissioner first announced to us in a general managers meeting at the [scouting] combine that the clubs will now be held accountable to some of the discretions of the players,” Newsome said, “I think the pressure fell on all 32 of us in the room and that falls on us ? that there might be some players that we?ll have to pass on now.”
