Marcus Peters' Aggressiveness Makes Him 2015 NFL Draft's Boom or Bust Cornerback

This fall, Marcus Peters was kicked off the University of Washington football team. Any and all conversations regarding him as an NFL prospect either begin or end with that fact.

A talented corner for years for the Huskies, the way he left Seattle overcasts any discussion around him. There are plenty of rumors about what really happened to set his suspension off, but none of them have been confirmed by either Peters or the coaching staff at Washington.

One rumor, and probably the most notable one, is that he choked a coach. In an interview with Rob Rang of CBS Sports and NFL Draft Scout, Peters denied that accusation.

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'That never happened,' Peters said.

When asked again if there was any kind of physical altercation that could have been mistaken for choking, Peters reiterated his stance, 'Nope. Not at all.'

It isn't just Peters denying that a physical altercation occurred. Former UW coach Steve Sarkisian, current Huskies defensive coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski and defensive backs coach Jimmy Lake told the Seattle Times that the incident never occurred.

While there may not have been a physical altercation, there clearly was a string of violations that led to Peters' dismissal.

'It was a misunderstanding between me and the coaches,' Peters said. 'I put myself in a bad situation that I couldn't get myself out of.'

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So according to three people on the 2014 squad, there was no such choking. Peters did go on to take ownership of his dismissal during interviews, including one with USA Today's Tom Pelissero. He told Pelissero: "All I can blame is myself."

Whatever caused Peters to exit early, he's dedicated to letting everyone know it was his fault, though he hasn't been open about specifics of what happened. Still, not everyone seems to think it was his fault, as Fox Sports' Joel Klatt had an interesting note on his big board, which ranked Peters as the 23rd prospect in the class, behind Trae Waynes of Michigan State and Ifo Ekpre-Olomu of Oregon as far as cornerbacks are concerned.

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However, the week he was removed, he was texting other defensive backs—including his replacement—trying to help with the game plan. That isn't consistent with a player that has 'red flags' for character. If anything, you could say that Marcus cared too much and wanted to win right away, which was his downfall with a new staff trying to build a new culture.

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If he really was just a casualty of a new coaching staff, then Peters' story may be the most misunderstood of the class. According to John Middlekauff, a former scout in the league and current contributor to Comcast SportsNet, at least three professional squads have him completely off of their draft boards.

This seems odd. NFL teams aren't willing to take him in, but the Washington staff is going to have Peters back for their pro day in April, according to Pelissero's article. Not only that, Peters is getting hit with negative talk regarding his off-the-field life too. According to Adam Jude of the Seattle Times, an NFL scout told him: "They’re all professionals up here, and they won’t put up with that BS. Hanging out with Marshawn [Lynch]...was probably the worst thing for him."

Lynch may not be liked by the general public, but he's never had incidents with teammates. Being linked to a five-time Pro Bowler in his college city doesn't sound like the worst thing a student athlete can do. Everything about how he's being viewed by the NFL seems fishy, in part because we're viewing this from a keyhole without access to all of the data and facts of his background.

Players with shady pasts have gone high in the draft before, though, no doubt. The first name that comes to mind when comparing "characters" between Peters and a highly drafted prospect is Percy Harvin. According to Sporting News via ESPN's Rich Cimini, Harvin threw his receiving coach to the ground while at the University of Florida—by his throat. He would later go 22nd overall to the Minnesota Vikings.

His "antics" didn't stop when he got in the league, though, but it also didn't stop teams from taking a chance on him. He would later be traded to the Seattle Seahawks for a first-round pick in a league in which blockbuster traders are rare. In Seattle, he signed a deal worth more than $64 million, which is the fourth largest in the history of the sport for his position, according to Spotrac.

The bottom line is, if you can stay out of legal trouble, someone in the league will take a shot at value from a talent perspective. As they say, "it only takes one."

In the social media age, it may be more valuable for prospects to hear what scouts are saying behind their backs. Other players, such as TCU's Paul Dawson, who have "character reds" also show self-awareness, going straight to the press to discuss past issues. Accountability is what the NFL likes to see, and we're seeing this more and more from these young athletes.

Now, with the prerequisite of his background out of the way, we can finally talk about Peters on the field. Standing at 6'0", his game is built for today's NFL. With the advancement of the league's offenses, including the addition of the zone read, more and more stress has been put on defenses.

Because of that, more teams are playing some version of press-man coverage or Cover 3, both of which Peters did and excelled at in Washington. Left one-on-one on receivers, man-to-man corners need length to deflect passes in the air as well as jam receivers at the line of scrimmage, disrupting the timing of a play.

Bleacher Report's Ian Wharton compared him to Darrelle Revis, a top-two corner in today's NFL by most people's standards. I'm not sure I totally agree with that, but I do believe he has that type of ceiling. Instead, the go-to comparison on the field might be Richard Sherman.

Sherman's best traits are his length, his physicality and his swagger. Against 6'4" Jaelen Strong, a potential first-round receiver from Arizona State, Peters didn't back one inch when facing long, strong and notable talent. 

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Strong vs Marcus Peters was #fun. Whole game was them just talking trash to each other. Lots of this https://t.co/v6MIiJtiga

— Kyle Posey (@The_KP_Show) January 30, 2015"

That same alleged aggressive character that got him in the dog house in Husky Stadium manifests itself on the field in a positive way. It really seems like there's no stage too big for the defensive back who Bleacher Report's Matt Miller believes has the tools to be a top-five boundary back in the league.

Another way his physicality shows up on film is in the run game. Most collegiate cornerbacks are more focused on the finesse portions of the position than the gritty attributes. Deion Sanders famously used to talk about tackling as a "business decision." Peters wants to buy up all the stock when he can get a shot in—even on a quarterback. 

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Marcus Peters #strong https://t.co/cVuvTcvEWH

— Luke Inman (@Luke_Spinman) January 13, 2015"

He's not just some Tampa 2-style near-the-line-of-scrimmage player, though. As mentioned before, he fits very well on the boundary and is already very developed for such a young player. In his three years at Washington, he managed to total 11 interceptions, leading the team in the statistic in each season. ESPN's Kevin Weidl even praised his high-pointing ability.

When watching Peters' film, it's hard to rip apart his flaws because you have to get very, very nitpicky. He plays great for what the NFL is trending toward at the most valuable position in the secondary. On-field comparisons to Revis and Sherman are abundant and warranted.

Where he'll go is anyone's guess. With the combine coming up, there's a safe bet we'll get more leaks as word spreads throughout Indianapolis of how he tested during team interviews, but nothing is concrete regardless. On the field, he's a top-10 lock.

A team such as Baltimore, which has historically looked at the "best player available" and taken in some questionable characters throughout the years for a value addition, might be in the market for Peters. At the end of the first round, if he slips that far, that seems like a logical match for a team that desperately needs help on the boundary.

Peters is an unknown commodity, but if you buy into the man, then he's going to be seen as an elite prospect. In three years, he has the potential to go first in all of those "redraft" articles. We're only seeing glimpses of what the NFL wants us to know at this point, but on draft day, there's nowhere to hide. You're either with him or against him in a damned if you do, damned if you don't situation.