NFL Rumors: Patriots Prove College Stars Have Nothing to Gain by Tweeting

As much as anything, the Patriots are renowned for preparation, scouting and going the extra mile...so much so that it led to the blown-out-of-proportion "Spygate" scandal of 2007.

That's why we shouldn't be surprised by the recent tidbit ESPNBoston.com's Mike Reiss posted:

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In a related note, I heard a few stories of how the Patriots were following prospects on Twitter as part of the scouting process, with a Patriots staffer telling someone close to a prospect that the team noticed a high volume of tweets and wondered if the player was more into tweeting than football. It’s yet another reminder of how everything someone tweets is fair game.

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Since we are constantly reminded that the NFL is a "copycat league," expect the other 31 teams to follow the Patriots' lead and begin to monitor college players' tweets starting today.

Twitter is great, and like anything else, when used responsibly it's perfectly harmless for athletes, pro or amateur.

But we keep seeing examples where athletes, especially in the NFL (Rashard Mendenhall, Antonio Cromartie, Reggie Bush) don't act responsibly or at least consider the implications of their casual tweets. (Let's not fool ourselves: Everything about Twitter is casual...even the logo for the program is a blue cartoon bird.)

Now I don't mean to throw the baby out with the bathwater, but I can't help but think the smarter big-time college head coaches, as well as the better, high-priced agents, should beg their athletes to stay away from tweeting.

For any prospect, while your draft stock is still being sorted out, the risks greatly outweigh the rewards when it comes to Twitter.

Sure, there are plenty of innocuous things that Andrew Luck or Justin Blackmon could tweet next spring, but will any of them really improve their draft stock? What NFL general manager or head coach reads a tweet about anything and thinks, "Oh, boy, that young man sure has a good head on his shoulders" or "Wow, the way he tweeted about his interview with the NFL Network sure shows he has manners?" My guess would be none.

On the other hand, when a player tweets something stupid like, oh, I don't know, questioning the evidence about 9/11, it can only be disastrous. Imagine what would have happened to Patrick Peterson or J.J. Watt's draft-day destiny had he delivered the exact same tweet as Mendenhall.

But step back for a second from the actual substance of a potential first-round draft choice tweeting and consider just what kind of message it sends to his prospective new employer.

If a player is delivering 25 or 50 tweets a day, isn't that as much a red flag as anything?

Sure, there's nothing wrong with tweeting here and there, but if a prospect is seemingly (and that's the operative word there, "seemingly"—perception is as vital as anything) more concerned with his tweets and Twitter fans than training for the combine or working on his pro day, that could turn teams off immediately.

Look, if we've learned anything about the draft process over the last 10 to 15 years, it's that teams don't need another reason to pass on a player. Da'Quan Bowers and Ryan Mallett are great examples of that. They already scrutinize everything from height, weight, wingspan and speed to intelligence and background, not to mention every move you've ever made on a football field.

Why give an NFL team any more ammunition in the case against them selecting you?