Biggest Losers of Extended 2014 NFL Draft Process so Far

Hating the fact you have to wait a few weeks longer for the NFL draft than most years? Join the club. Player development staffs are stretching themselves longer and players are getting scrutinized more than ever, particularly as it relates to character questions.

This extra time might seem like a benefit, but it is hurting the stock of some players. Guys like Teddy Bridgewater, cornerback Bradley Roby and others are tumbling as the draft-less weeks roll on.

Bills GM Doug Whaley just wants to get everything over with.

"I'm sure you guys are tired of writing about this, we're tired of thinking about it," Whaley said to reporters Friday. "All we did was push our draft meetings back two weeks. Is it something that's more or less beneficial? I'd have to say less, because we do our work in the fall and spring. We were ready to go yesterday. So it doesn't help us. And I'm a firm believer in the saying 'study long, study wrong.'"

As much as Whaley might dislike the NFL's decision to move the draft back until May because of the unavailability of Radio City Music Mall in New York City, it hasn't stopped him from using it to his benefit to send out smokescreens to beat writers and draft analysts.

That is something he said all teams do before the draft.

"It's finally one time where we can use you guys to our advantage," Whaley said. "There are things that you put out there to see if someone bites, and there are some things you put out there that are true. You have people read between the lines, and you don’t want to show your hand. I'm sure everyone is doing the same thing."

The extra weeks haven't meant more workouts or reviewing of game tape, necessarily, Whaley said. It has just meant more time for lies, deception and mudslinging—mostly to the detriment of the prospects.

So, where has this hit the hardest? We analyze the biggest losers of the extended 2014 draft process so far in this slideshow.

Louisville Quarterback Teddy Bridgewater

If you asked Bleacher Report NFL draft analyst Matt Miller in October, Teddy Bridgewater was going to be the No. 1 overall pick. In fact, Miller said Bridgewater was the second-best quarterback prospect he has ever graded—Andrew Luck being No. 1.

Too bad the draft wasn't held in October. Bridgewater is trying to weather the firestorm, as he intimated on the NFL Network's Path to the Draft:

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It feels like it's been years since I touched the football and played a game in pads. I've been positive throughout the entire process, only worrying about the things that I can control. Basically, I look at every day as a blessing and a new opportunity.

"

Now, that "second-best" prospect might be waiting around on the board until the second round, according to NFL.com's Bryan Fischer.

"I think the media has Teddy Bridgewater in the top 10, but around league circles he's more like a late first, early second-round pick," former NFL GM Phil Savage said on SiriusXM NFL Radio, per Fischer.

B/R's Miller stands by his man in the video above, amid the doomsday stock reports:

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It is all about the smokescreen, especially this time of the year. General managers are not being honest with each other. Neither are agents. They're not leaking truthful stories to the media. Someone is trying to get Bridgewater to fall, so they come out and tell ESPN he's had multiple bad workouts. ... As far as workouts go, someone is definitely trying to smear the Bridgewater name. ...

Teams often don't show their hand. So, there's a great chance that a team that really likes Bridgewater is trying to stay away from him and may even leak negative reports about him to the media to try to make sure he's there for them, or so they don't tip their hand. If you're a team that's picking, at say, at four or five overall, you don't want someone to get ahead of you, if that's your guy. So, I think the Bridgewater smear campaign is all about teams hoping he is still on the board.

"

Ohio State Cornerback Bradley Roby

There is a saying: If you give someone enough rope, they will find a way to hang themselves with it. Ohio State cornerback Bradley Roby might be one who did just that—proverbially speaking, of course—with the extra time before draft day.

WBNS-10TV in Columbus, Ohio, reported (h/t ESPN.com) Roby is facing a charge of operating a vehicle impaired, stemming from an April 20 incident where officers found a person sleeping in the driver's seat.

The Columbus Dispatch quoted a man calling 911 at 2:51 a.m. ET on April 20 and saying: "This black Dodge Charger almost hit some kids on the sidewalk. And now he's just passed out drunk on the side of BBR in a black Dodge Charger with Georgia plates."

Roby helped explain the circumstances, refuting parts of the reports via Twitter, as Sports Illustrated's Chris Mascaro outlines here, but you have to wonder if this ill-timed incident would have happened if the player didn't have so much free time before the draft. This could cost Roby getting picked in Round 1, which is where he might have been projected to go before April 20.

ESPN draft guru Todd McShay said the character questions might get the best of Roby, and that was before the alleged OVI charge in this extended draft process, per Scott Brown: 

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I'd be real nervous to pull the trigger on him because I don't know what I'm getting. It's a young man that has some growing to do. I think he's got to become more focused, and there's just a lot of inconsistent tape on him.

He's a wild card. He could be the best defensive back in this class five years from now, or he could wind up being another first-round cornerback that doesn't pan out in the league because he didn't need to do what he had to do mentally and from a preparation standpoint.

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Texas A&M Quarterback Johnny Manziel

Johnny Manziel's falling stock might be less of a function of his own question marks. There are just so many other quarterbacks who are garnering increased interest around the league. It is the law of supply and demand at work, if you believe the "silly season" reports.

Bleacher Report's Chris Simms has never been sold on the top three quarterbacks—Teddy Bridgewater, Blake Bortles and Manziel. He said in the video above:

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The biggest thing to me is you're going to see a lot of play at the end of the first round, early second round for the Tom Savages and the (Zach) Mettenbergers, who in my opinion are the two best pocket passers in this draft. ... I never thought any of the top three were top-10 quarterbacks in my opinion.

"

The extra time allows for more inspection of character and intangibles, the very things that carry the undersized quarterback as an NFL prospect. As University Herald's Russell Westerholm wrote: "Personality and intangibles are half his draft stock."

Taking us back to Economics 101: As the questions of the top quarterbacks increase, so does the amount of interest in the alternatives, and as a result, the stock of guys like Manziel has fallen. The extended draft period is only further fueling that dynamic.

Auburn Running Back Tre Mason

More time before the draft means more time to double-check the medical reports, too. It pits doctors and media reports against players.

Auburn running back Tre Mason was one such player caught in that firestorm late last week.

NFL insider Ian Rapoport tweeted Mason was brought back for an NFL Scouting Combine medical recheck and will require wrist surgery after the draft. Mason took to Twitter to defend himself, saying the report is false, as NJ.com's Eliot Shorr-Parks wrote. Then, Rapoport responded, tweeting: "Teams have been informed differently."

Now, you have to question who to believe, the player or the report? Time will tell the truth, but that truth won't come before the draft. We just have more time to question the player.

Mason wants to be picked in Round 1, of course, but he wasn't projected to go that high, with or without wrist surgery.

"He's a Ray Rice-type runner, I believe," Kiper told the Birmingham News' Joel A. Erickson. "I would say third round for him."

This untimely report might make him fall even further.

Clemson Offensive Tackle/Guard Brandon Thomas

The longer draft season also forces prospects to work harder in workouts over a longer time period. The extra work can lead to wear. In the case of Clemson offensive lineman Brandon Thomas, it led to wear and tear.

ESPN's Adam Caplan reported Thomas suffered a torn ACL in a non-contact drill in a workout for the New Orleans Saints in early April.

A purported second- or third-round pick will likely have to sit out his entire first year in the NFL with such an injury. Clearly, that crushes his status as one of the best interior linemen in this class.

No one can say this wouldn't have happened if the draft was held in its usual third weekend of April, but you cannot deny the fact there was more time for private workouts—and conditioning for those. Basically, more time to suffer a draft-crushing injury, like Thomas did.

These extra final weeks can change teams' minds, new Cleveland Browns GM Ray Farmer told reporters this week.

"That's a dangerous piece of the puzzle," he said. "The more boards change and the more people get further away from football, and they still think they see these grandiose changes, it's a dangerous proposition. ... Am I ready? Absolutely, let's go. Can we call New York and get it done?"

Nope, we still have more than a week of hyperbole, muckraking and potential psychological or physical breakdowns to go.

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Eric Mack, one of the giants among fantasy writers, was the Fantasy Football Lead Writer for Bleacher Report this past season. He is now an NFL featured writer here. Follow him on Twitter, where you can ask him endless questions about your team, rip him for his content and even challenge him to a head-to-head fantasy game.