NFL 2011 Draft: Ryan Mallett's "Sickness" Another Question to Questionable Draft

This quarterback class has a surprising amount of character issues chasing them down as they sprint towards their prospective futures in the National Football League.

A major flaw in them all is how much they seem to underestimate the power of a story, and the effect a small statement or occurrence can have on their draft stock plummeting or skyrocketing.

Ryan Mallett is the latest installment of “QBs Gone Wild” according to media outlets all over. He was reportedly “sick” during his visit with the Carolina Panthers and had to cancel a number of meetings scheduled.

Now, there are a few approaches you can take to the issue surrounding his “sickness.” You can judge the kid off of prior bad behavior, seeing as how he was arrested for public intoxication in March of 2009. He was 21 years old at the time, so let us not misconstrue the fact that underage drinking may have been an added fragment to an already complicated scene.

This does seem to add to the long scroll of questions rolled out by college football and NFL analysts alike. Some seem to be questioning his stability and work ethic, like they were not doing enough of that before. Some are just beginning to call him lazy and a future dis-benefit to whatever team lands him in the league.

Fortunately for him, we have a possible laptop thief, and a pizza parlor fighter joining him in this year’s quarterback class. Not saying that the allegations against the other two gentlemen, Cameron Newton and Blaine Gabbert, were true.

However, those are two huge problems circulating both players, and they have undoubtedly encountered questions relating to indiscretions more than they would have liked to.

Mallett already has enough to deal with as far as proving to everyone how successful he can be in the pro world. In his appearance on Jon Gruden’s QB camp show, his body language was poor, and people have jumped down his throat for how he appears to the public and to scouts.

These people once believed in his lack of movement, but incredible arm strength, to cancel out his lack of athleticism. Sound like anyone you know?

Jay Cutler, who was mutilated by his peers and the media for seemingly giving up in a game against the Green Bay Packers, has never been that media darling that everyone wants a quarterback to be.

His sideline manners are not encouraging, nor are they exciting to cut to during a timeout or commercial break. He is just not the type of person that you want to sit down and have dinner with. But his teammates will argue until their deaths that he is a heck of a person to play beside.

Ryan Mallett needs to prove that he is that kind of person. He will most likely be left twiddling his thumbs as the top 10 draft picks are called, and I am sure he expects this prediction to come true.

Still, if he wishes to come off of the board in the first round, he must decide what identity he would like to personify.

Does he want to be that guy who is hated by the fans, but loved by the men he has to battle on the turf with? Or does he want to be the man that smiles at cameras and kisses babies?