2012 NFL Draft: Latest News on Players with Character Concerns

As is the case every year in the NFL some players enter the league with squeaky-clean images while others carry more red flags than a golf course, whether it's due to injury, performance concerns or questionable decisions off the gridiron.

The 2012 draft has no shortage of players with the always enigmatic "character concerns", including several players who entered the offseason as potential first-round picks.

Given the number of headlines that these scholastic screw-ups generated while in college, it should come as no surprise that among the onslaught of speculation and information flooding the league leading up to the draft, there's some news about these problem children.

Here's a look at some of the latest.

News broke earlier this week that Ohio State offensive tackle Mike Adams tested positive for marijuana at February's NFL scouting combine, but the sort of report that may have severely damaged a player's draft stock several years ago seems to barely be making a dent in Adams' status as a potential first-round pick.

Part of that may well be due to Adams' impressive 6'6" frame and the value of tackles in the NFL. However, NFL Network analyst Mike Mayock believes a large part of the lack of uproar over Adams' failed test may well be due to a difference in the prevailing attitudes of some front offices in regards to occasional marijuana usage by players.

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“If it was a one-time thing and not that big a deal, then it’s not like you’re beating women or you’re a convicted felon or murdering people,” Mayock said of marijuana use. “There’s hot-button issues now, but I don’t think one time with pot is a hot-button issue."

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I could care less if Adams smokes marijuana, as he's a grown man and the only way pot can legitimately be called a performance-enhancing drug is if Adams is performing in a hot dog eating contest.

However, to fail a drug test that you knew was coming months in advance would seem to show either incredible stupidity or a sense of entitlement, and neither are qualities teams want in their quarterback's blindside protector.

Adams probably won't fall past the 45th overall pick given his collegiate resume and the position he plays. However, his misstep probably cost him quite a bit of money even as it potentially gave the team willing to roll the dice on him a nice value pick—assuming this was a one-time thing—in the second round.

North Alabama cornerback Janoris Jenkins can't make the claim that he's only had one run-in with the sticky icky, as multiple marijuana arrests were what led Jenkins to be dismissed from the University of Florida and land in Florence to begin with.

There are claims that Jenkins' marijuana use continued at North Alabama, and the 5'10" 193-pound defensive back's checkered past has caused him to apparently be removed from some teams' draft boards altogether, with Buffalo GM Buddy Nix going so far as to relay publicly via CBS Sports that the Bills have done just that.

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"You know I just would not get into that," Nix said. "But if you mean whether we'll take him or not ... ability-wise obviously you would. This is a political answer I'm fixing to give you, but otherwise you wouldn't. You get enough trouble without getting one that you know is a problem."

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Nix's rather roundabout response makes him sound a little stoned himself, but Jenkins has vehemently denied continuing to use drugs at North Alabama and was forthright about his past missteps at Florida at the NFL combine.

The NFL has become very much a passing league in the past decade, and cornerbacks with Jenkins' ability may carry an even heftier premium than offensive tackles. So, even with flags flapping all around him, Jenkins now finds himself in the same boat as Adams, hovering near the end of the first round or early part of the second waiting to hear his name called.

Apparently finding yourself in trouble with the law for repeatedly getting hammered legally isn't as big a cause for concern with NFL teams.

While the draft stock of Adams and Jenkins has been clouded by pot use, Notre Dame wide receiver Michael Floyd has been steadily climbing many mock draft boards of late despite three alcohol-related arrests while in South Bend, including a 2011 arrest for drunk driving.

To his credit the 6'3" 220-pound senior has said all the right things about his run-ins with the law, stating, “It’s about moving forward. It’s about making sure you don’t make the same mistake again".

That appears to be good enough for at least some of the draft community.

Floyd's 100-catch 2011 season and outstanding pro day have vaulted him past Oklahoma State's Justin Blackmon to the top of the rankings at his position according to such experts as Matt Waldman of the Fifth Down.

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I think he is capable of developing into a physical receiver like the Chiefs’ Dwayne Bowe, but just a notch below Calvin Johnson in terms of out-of-this-world athleticism. There are a few players capable of approaching this kind of ability in this class, but none are as close as Floyd.

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I don't want to turn this into a debate about the perils of alcohol vs. marijuana, nor am I especially interested in debating which stupid decision made by a kid is the stupidest decision made by a kid, but I will admit that it seems a bit curious that one sort of miscue seems to carry with it a darker stain than the other.

Perhaps it would be different if there were three marijuana ads during each commercial break on NFL telecasts.

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