RB Guice falls down to ’Skins

ARLINGTON, Texas — Usually there is a failed drug test, a criminal charge, or even a harrowing blast from the past — damaging tweets or a video with a gas mask — that leads to a slide down the NFL draft.

The exact reason for Derrius Guice’s slippery fall from firstround talent to late secondround pick wasn’t as clear as some past drops, but the Redskins finally took a chance on the LSU running back with the 59th overall pick Friday night.

Guice had been viewed by some as the second-best running back in the draft, behind the Giants’ No. 2 pick, Saquon Barkley, but his stock fell leading up to the draft because of to some off-thefield concerns.

Guice gained notoriety in the pre-draft process for his bizarre NFL Scouting Combine experience. He claimed that teams asked him if he liked men and whether his mom was a prostitute. The league announced it would investigate the claims, but recently came to the conclusion there was no evidence it happened.

Then, reports began to surface Thursday and Friday of Guice’s team visits not going well and other incidents during his college career that had gone unreported. One report said Guice got into an altercation during a visit with the Eagles, though he denied it.

“It did surprise me because a lot of the things came out of nowhere and weren’t true, and I just didn’t understand why me out of all people, because I’m great to everybody,” Guice told Redskins reporters on a conference call.

The 5-foot-11, 225-pound power back said before the draft he had never been arrested or suspended and thought people were getting on him because was active on social media and liked to play video games.

Redskins coach Jay Gruden said the team saw the reports about Guice, but spoke to his agent and felt good about taking him.

“He’s quite the character,” Gruden said. “Lucky to get him, this is a hard-nose runner.”

Guice was in the green room during the first round Thursday night, but chose not to return to AT&T Stadium Friday.