While preparing for the 1996 draft, every NFL team in need of a running back pondered the risks and rewards of taking Lawrence Phillips, who reportedly beat and sexually assaulted his former girlfriend multiple times while at Nebraska and at one point even dragged her down three flights of stairs, like a caveman.
The St. Louis Rams were so unmoved by Phillips’ rap sheet that they selected him early in the first round, and team owner Georgia Frontiere said, “If it helps our team, that’s all I care about.”
That’s when we realized that for a woman sports owner to be accepted into an all-male world, she also had to lack a conscience.
I can’t be objective about the late Frontiere. She drove the Los Angeles Rams, the favorite team of my youth, into the ground after inheriting them from her late husband, Carroll Rosenbloom, who died in a mysterious swimming accident. Then she moved the team to St. Louis.
But with that string of words, “If it helps our team, that’s all I care about,” she summarized the pre-draft mindset perfectly.
NFL executives say they care about the character of their players. What they won’t say is there’s a sliding scale in almost every personnel department to determine whether a player’s talent is considered so great that the red flags are trivialized.
The gamble often backfires. Phillips didn’t made it through his second season. I’m guessing the Rams somewhat regretted getting rid of Jerome Bettis to make room for Phillips. Bettis played 10 seasons in Pittsburgh, four more Pro Bowls, won a Super Bowl and was named the NFL’s Man of the Year.
Art Schlichter, Maurice Clarett, Adam “Pacman” Jones and Odell Thurman are among early-round draft picks who arrived with some baggage and left with more.
Sometimes, the risk pays off. In 2013, Arizona took defensive back and kick returner Tyrann Mathieu, despite his multiple drug problems at LSU, but he had a strong rookie season (until a knee injury in December).
“Every franchise has its own philosophy on drafting (high-risk players),” said former Washington and Houston general manager Charley Casserly, now an analyst for the NFL Network. “Championships teams have players with championship character. You might have some characters too, but you need to rely on people on and off the field.”
Casserly affirmed that teams sometimes will take a risk on a player, but wait until the later rounds for financial reasons. “Even if the player doesn’t work out, it costs you less when get rid of him,” he said.
In other words, money and production often is more important than character.
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