How could Stetson Bennett's NFL Draft stock be affected by news of his arrest?

Stetson Bennett recently helped his Georgia Bulldogs to a dominant 65-7 victory against the TCU Horned Frogs in the 2022 College Football National Championship game. He helped the Bulldogs win their second consecutive national championship, while putting together a stellar performance on the football field.

His impressive finish to the 2022 college football season raised his stock in the upcoming 2023 NFL Draft to an all-time high. Stetson Bennett hasn't been considered a top-level quarterback prospect by most around the NFL, but his outlook has been trending way up recently due to his winning ways on the football field. His stock, however, recently took a major hit for a situation off the field.

Early in the morning on Sunday, January 29, just weeks after winning the National Championship with Georgia, Stetson Bennett was arrested in Dallas, Texas. He was reportedly taken into police custody on a charge of public intoxication. He was held at the police station and processed for the violation before being released about five hours later.

The incident comes at a terrible time for Stetson Bennett with the 2023 NFL Draft just a couple of months away. He is projected by many draft experts to be a mid-round pick this year, but that could potentially change with this new issue that just came up. Often times, prospects fall further down in the draft than originally planned due to any type of legal trouble before the draft.

Stetson Bennett could suffer a simlar fate as other prospects who got in legal trouble prior to the NFL Draft

Stetson Bennett

Stetson Bennett won't be the first NFL Draft prospect to have his stock fall after getting into legal trouble. Laremy Tunsil is an example of this, though he never got into legal trouble, but rather may have done something illegal. He was projected to potentially be the top overall pick in the 2016 NFL Draft until a video surfaced of him smoking what appeared to be marijuana out of a bong.

Tunsil fell all the way to the 13th overall pick to the Miami Dolphins as NFL teams were concerned with his alleged illegal activity. Joe Mixon is also a classic example of legal troubles affecting draft stocks. He was considered by just about every scout to be one of the most talented players in the 2017 NFL Draft and an easy first-round pick quality player.

Mixon fell out of the first round before eventually being selected by the Cincinnati Bengals in the second round. Many NFL teams avoided Mixon due to his multiple legal situations off the football field, including assault charges. Tunsil and Mixon are just a few examples, but NFL teams dig into every record of every player before drafting them. They usually take these situations very seriously.

Stetson Bennett is now in a somewhat similar situation, though not identical. He has never been a projected first-round pick, as he apparently lacks the pure talent that most NFL scouts are particularly looking for. What he does have going for him is that he's a quarterback, the most important position in the NFL, with a proven track record of winning games at the highest level of college football.

Stetson Bennett's overall rating entering the draft process was always going to make him a risky pick for the team that selected him. This risk has been intensely multiplied by his recent arrest. Judging by other similar situations in the past, he will surely fall in the draft as a result, but how far is yet to be determined.

Because of his prospect rating, if Stetson Bennett isn't a championship quarterback, he may even go undrafted this year. Teams may decide his lack of relative upside isn't worth the inherent risks that come along with the issues off the field. With what he's proven to accomplish so far, a team will likely still take a chance on him in the late rounds of the 2023 NFL Draft.