CHICAGO - Fifteen days ago Aaron Hernandez was sentenced to a life prison term for murder. Before the NFL draft Baton Rouge police were still seeking a conversation with LSU offensive linemen La'el Collins in their murder investigation of a pregnant woman he once dated. Collins, a projected first-round pick, had been here at the NFL Draft activities with his peers, understandably exited. He was not drafted on Thursday night.
2015 NFL Draft results: You can’t pick a player in the 1st round if you don’t trust him
Teams had off-field factors on their minds while making their first-round pick on Thursday night.
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Each of the 32 people making selections in the first round here knew character counts. Hernandez is guilty. Collins? No one knows what he knows or even if he is involved. But these two occurrences sent shocks and chills across the league that was evident in how the draft unfolded. Teams did their homework. They read those background checks. They talked to mothers and cousins and teachers and coaches incessantly about these players.
And they picked players at the top of the draft with a clear mixture of talent/character as their blueprint.
There's little other way to explain Dante Fowler Jr., shooting all the way up to the No. 3 selection by the Jacksonville Jaguars. Few teams rated Fowler Jr. as the best defensive college football player in America. Top 5, easily yes, but the first defensive player to cross the stage?
Fowler said he got it. He appreciated quarterbacks Jameis Winston and Marcus Mariota deciding to skip Chicago and celebrate the draft in their hometowns. He appreciated the door that opened, the special walk across the draft stage that granted here for him.
“I think when you’re making a pick like that nowadays you’ve just got to have a lot of trust,” Fowler Jr. said. “First, with the football, they put on the tape and saw a player who never lets up. Who has a physical fire in the way he plays. Who has the ability. But then they also sat down with me and they had to realize I am a team player. I get along with teammates and coaches. I will be responsible in the community and will help the community. I have a fun-loving spirit and heart. I was raised by good parents to be a good son and I never want to disappoint them. So, isn’t that the kind of player you want in your organization?”
Yes, that is exactly the kind.
Jaguars GM Dave Caldwell said, curiously, about making the final choice: “Some of the stuff, information that you’re not privy to and probably never will be, but nothing major, separated them.”
Bradley said a team can never have enough edge rushers before adding: “I really like him. We felt strongly about him.”
Fowler Jr. has a smile that brightens a room and a dressing style that is colorful and fun. He exhibits manners and personality supreme. But he mixes all of that with menacing on-field play.
He soared to the top of the draft, behind the quarterbacks, in part because his character was near flawless.
And each team that followed used their own character tests.
Ties that bind
- Winston and Mariota move forward as No. 1 and No. 2 picks, respectively, in Tampa Bay and in Tennessee forever intertwined. I believe Mariota currently has better tutors. Titans head coach Ken Wisenhunt knows quarterbacking. Titans tight end coach Mike Mularkey has a strong quarterback background. Bucs offensive coordinator Dirk Koetter will work with Winston, but the Titans have the coaching/quarterback tutoring edge.
- Receiver Kevin White said he has been coming to Chicago for a long time and that each time he comes, "I never want to leave." Well, now it's home. White with the No. 7 pick became the guy who replaces Brandon Marshall, who is now a Jet. "I love it here," White said. "I'm going to work on the field, love to play and be the same guy. Either you are humble or you get humbled in this game."
- Cornerback Trae Waynes and running back Melvin Gordon are both from Kenosha, Wis. They both attended Mary D. Bradford High School. Waynes was drafted No. 11 by Minnesota and Gordon No. 15 by San Diego, which moved up two spots via trade to grab him. An unusual tie that binds, as both players kept in touch throughout college (Waynes at Michigan State, Gordon at Wisconsin), competed against each other in the Big Ten and assisted each other during the draft process. And here they were drafted four spots apart. Waynes was the first defensive back selected and Gordon the second running back. Waynes believes his fit in Minnesota will be special. "I know coach (Mike) Zimmer is a defensive back genius," Waynes said. "I'm looking forward to what kind of player he can turn me into."
- New Falcons DE/OLB Vic Beasley wore a black and red suit to the draft. Falcons colors. He said he had a feeling - "It means a lot," Beasley said. "I grew up a Falcons fan all my life and it's a dream come true." He exhibited plenty of confidence about his Falcons hopes: "We just want to win the Super Bowl, want to win games and we want to win it all. That's the ultimate goal." And about being taken so highly at No. 7? "I thought anybody would take me after number one," he said. And he said it all as if he meant every word.
- So, Todd Gurley did not have to wait long in this draft, and he is, indeed, a top 10 pick. His knee injury and rehab did not prevent St. Louis from selecting Gurley at No. 10. He realizes he joins the tradition of Rams running backs that includes Eric Dickerson, Marshall Faulk and Stephen Jackson. "It's crazy, the rehab, the work and then to let things take care of themselves," Gurley said. Some scouts are concerned that Gurley runs too erect, a lot like Dickerson. They add, however, that if it can work anything close to the way it worked for Dickerson, that is a connection all would love.
- Williams went to the Jets at No. 6. He said, sure, he was disappointed that he did not go higher and was not the first defensive player selected. But he also said it could be for the best. He said he already has a connection with Jets head coach Todd Bowles. Williams explained: "I get a feeling like he's a players' coach. Like I said, we were in there joking around. That was our first time meeting each other (during his pre-draft visit to the Jets). He's like, `Man, you'd better be looking right on draft day or I'm going to be giving you a call' and stuff like that and I was joking back and I was like, 'Yeah, I should take your card because when I am looking good I'm going to give you a call.' When he gave me a call to pick me, he was like, `Yeah, you are looking good ...but I'm the one calling you, not the other way around.' He's a pretty good coach. I'm looking forward to working with him."
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