Top draft prospect B.J. Raji had a positive drug test at the february NFL Combine, according to Tony Pauline at SI.com. (h/t to cincyjungle for the link)
The specific substance isn’t know, but the prime suspect is weed.
How this affects Raji’s draft grade remains to be seen. He missed the 2007 college season with academic issues, returned to Boston College and had a terrific senior campaign, recording eight sacks and 42 tackles, with 16 tackles for loss. He was a dominant force during the week of practice at the Senior Bowl and continued his momentum up draft boards after turning in good combine and pro-day workouts. His performances the past three months have some scouts believing he’ll be taken in the top third of the first round of the April 25 draft.
One source familiar with the positive drug test assessed Raji’s draft prospects by saying, “It’s a roll of the dice. If Raji stays clean and plays to his potential, you could have a dominant defensive lineman on your team. Then again, it does nobody any good if the kid is on the sidelines serving a suspension for a failed test.”
Raji is currently the leading choice of mock drafters for Cincinnati at six.
The news is doubly interesting coming in the wake of Chris Steuber’s report (scroll down to the item immediately below this one) that the Bengals will take OT Michael Oher, not OT Andre Smith, at six if both OTs Jason Smith and Eugene Monroe are off the board. Assuming for the sake of argument that Steuber’s source is accurate, that report only makes sense if the Bengals are putting a premium on character in the first round this year. Both Andre and Raji now have character flags; Oher (so far) does not.
And I wouldn’t be surprised if character counts more than usual this year. Whoever the Bengals select is going to get paid big-time, and I’m sure they want to be 100 percent comfortable before they hand over a deal that will likely exceed $50 million. So suddenly, that Oher report doesn’t look quite so crazy after all.
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