With Peppers, report adds a dash of risk
Teams must weigh diluted sample in draft calculations
Jabrill Peppers was already a complicated case for the NFL.
Now he has to worry he’s not a toxic one.
That’s harsh, yes, but when a potential first-round draft pick is the subject of the brand of breaking news that surrounded Peppers on Monday, when ESPN’s Adam Schefter goes on the air with reports that the high-level prospect tested positive for a dilute urine sample at the NFL scouting combine, the questions and concerns that already centered on where he might fit in the draft rise to a new level.
Reactions came predictably fast and furious Monday, a mere 72 hours before draft night, and ranged just as predictably from hyperbole to ho-hum, from the drastic belief that Peppers has blown his chance for the money and status of being a first-round pick to the shoulder-shrug reaction of those saying it should not affect his draft stock at all.
The answer won’t come until Thursday, but the questions won’t stop until then either, not as teams work furiously to stack their final draft boards.
In that regard, Peppers was already a many-layered conversation. The former Michigan standout made his national mark as one of the most multidimensional stars the college game has seen in years, building a Heisman Trophy finalist season across excellence on defense, offense and special teams. And even if there is consensus on what he did well in the latter of those three categories, as an electrifying return specialist and a dynamic alternative on direct-snap offensive plays, his defensive role brought no such clarity. A linebacker in college, he is a defensive back by trade, built like a safety but with natural instincts suited better to cornerback, as fast as anyone at the position but not nearly as agile as some scouts would like for a fulltime coverage role.
For some NFL teams, the diz- zying combination of skills make him a no-brainer first-round pick, a natural fit for defenses fighting to keep up with the game’s evolving offenses, a guy who can line up in the box and take on running backs and tight ends, but one who also can manage well enough in coverage to stay on the field. For other teams, the respect for his versatility is tempered too much by his lack of one true position, a profile that makes it impossible to give him a first-round grade for the limited role he would ultimately play.
And that was before Monday’s news, which created a new level of unpredictability about Peppers’ future. Essentially, a lot will come down to what teams believe, whether they can be convinced the explanation from Peppers’ agency CAA — that he was overhydrated from participating in linebacker and defensive back drills at the combine — is the only reason behind the flagged sample.
It is an explanation also used by former Alabama linebacker Reuben Foster, who had been sent home from the combine for a different reason (an altercation with medical staff ) but later was revealed to also have tested positive for a diluted sample.
Could that possibly be true? Sure. Peppers did in fact go through back-to-back days of workouts in Indianapolis, saying at the time that he requested to do so after being included by the NFL with the linebacker group but preferring to also show his skills with the defensive backs, the position he best projects at. Perhaps the toll of that, and the description by his agents that he drank eight to 10 bottles of water each night, could add weight to the well-known “water defense,” as one agent referred to it to The (Bergen County, N.J.) Record.
If that’s the case, Peppers’ expected assurances to any interested teams that this was an anomaly that won’t happen again have their best chance of being believed. Because teams are most certainly going to be asking the question now that Peppers (along with Foster) has been placed in the NFL’s drug program, Stage 1 entrants who might not face disciplinary action regarding fines or suspensions but who essentially have a strike one that could be damaging should they have another issue and advance to Stage 2, which includes a potential four-game suspension.
Those are the type of risk factors that change draft stock. ESPN’s Mel Kiper Jr. had Peppers highly rated in his most recent mock draft, going at No. 10 to the Buffalo Bills. This hasn’t changed his opinion — “I’d be surprised if he got out of the first round,” Kiper said in a conference call Monday — but the fact he was asked the question is almost more revealing than the answer.
At an appearance last weekend at a shoe store in Teaneck, N.J., Peppers told The Record he would be hosting a draft-night party for up to 150 family and friends, putting aside the debate about where he might go for the chance to celebrate being a part of the process. Those plans might have to change now, when the conversation isn’t just about a multidimensional set of football tools but also about a suspect urine sample.