'%20x='0'%20y='0'%20height='100%25'%20width='100%25'%20%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20xlink%3Ahref='data:image/jpg;base64,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'%3E%3C/image%3E%3C/svg%3E)
Drama and the NFL Draft go hand-in-hand. Still, in the era of social media and immediate reactions to stories, rumors are starting to have a huge impact on the process.
It can be difficult to imagine how an NFL franchise with their team of scouts and thousands of hours of investigation can be spooked by a rumor about a prospect. But it happens more than you might think.
There are rumors you will never hear about. They are hardly important enough to cause anything more than minor ripples. Yet, some will impact the NFL Draft as well as who is selected with which pick.
Here, we present to you five most bizarre NFL Draft day rumors from over the years.
Be the GM of your favorite team, use our free Mock Draft Simulator with trades
#5 - Justin Fields’ seizure
Ahead of the 2021 NFL Draft, Justin Fields was one of the most talented quarterbacks behind Trevor Lawrence.
The Ohio State Buckeye was predicted to be taken rather soon after the Clemson prodigy. Yet, he suddenly began to slide during opening night… but why?
This was a process which was ongoing through the offseason. There were rumors getting passed around that Fields had some sort of mystery illness and had even suffered a seizure during Ohio State practice.
This seizure was only a rumor, although it could have been true based on what we now know about Fields.
The quarterback began to appear as though his mystery ailment would hinder his draft prospects, until Fields cleared up the situation in meetings with teams.
He was suffering from epilepsy, a neurological disorder that can cause seizures, but one which ran in his family.
Doctors advised the quarterback to monitor his condition and that he would outgrow it as the older members of his family had done. Fields explained his situation through a statement.
“It has had zero effect on football, I mean, it’s pretty simple for me to manage it, I just have to take three to four pills a night."
Fields would indeed slide in the first-round of the NFL Draft, albeit only to pick #11 where the Chicago Bears selected him after trading up nine spots to secure the star.
This perhaps wasn’t a disaster for the player, but it shows how the reporting and discussion of medical conditions ahead of the NFL Draft can impact a player’s stock.
Also check out: NFL Draft 2022 Live Updates
#4 - Lamar Jackson won’t play quarterback in the NFL
Lamar Jackson was a freak athlete throughout his formative years, showcasing these abilities on a huge stage with the University of Louisville. However, his stock was impacted by rumors about his suitability to play quarterback.
The problem teams had with regards to Jackson is that so few NFL franchises looked at his abilities as an asset rather than a problem.
In two successive years with the Cardinals, he had thrown over 3,500 yards and rushed for over 1,500 yards.
NFL teams should have been falling over themselves to secure such a dual-threat at the most important position in the sport, yet they worried about his running.
The sense was that Jackson was a running back, and his lack of quarterback prowess would be magnified in the NFL.
The rumor-mill began just before the draft, with an unnamed NFL Offensive Coordinator being cited as saying that Jackson couldn’t play as a quarterback in the NFL.
“He will not be able to play quarterback in this league, mark my words.”
All of a sudden, teams started viewing Jackson as a running back only, and naturally, his stock suffered with players in that position worth an awful lot less.
The problem was… Jackson had no intention of not playing QB. He would almost slide out of the first-round as teams panicked and refused to take him, until the Baltimore Ravens traded back into the first-round.
It shows what rumors can do to a prospect as Josh Rosen, Sam Darnold, and Baker Mayfield were all drafted ahead of a future NFL MVP award winner in the NFL draft. Yet, Jackson has perfectly married his insane athletic ability with QB nous, proving to be the ideal double-threat.
#3 - Drug rumours cause Dan Marino to slide in NFL Draft
Dan Marino was the second most talented quarterback in the 1983 NFL Draft, behind only John Elway.
There was no way that the future Hall of Famer should have fallen as far as he did, yet rumors about his leisure activities cost him dearly.
1983 was a unique year for the NFL Draft, with television coverage of the event beginning to gain some popularity. Fans now talked about the draft with enthusiasm. No longer was it a stuffy affair held with executives in a cigar-smoke-filled function room. It was a show.
Rumors went around the league that Marino had a problem with marijuana use, and this speculation was taken on by national media outlets.
Marvin Demoff was Marino’s agent, and he even became aware of how the stories were spooking teams and leaving them cold on his client.
It’s unclear where the rumor originated from, but it grew in stature as the draft drew closer, with Demoff left frustrated. The rumor grew such legs that his college actually drug tested the player before his final year ended.
Marino fell all the way to the 27th pick in that draft, almost certainly down to rumors of his drug use at parties. Still, it wouldn’t be an issue as he turned out to be a spectacular pick by the Dolphins.
To this day, there are those who believe the rumors were a conspiracy started by the Dolphins to ensure they could get Marino late in the first-round. Nobody has ever been able to substantiate such claims.
#2 - Was it Laremy Tunsil’s stepfather?
There’s no need to go into the intricacies of the well-known social media post which cost Laremy Tunsil his chances of being selected #1 overall in the NFL Draft.
However, the rumor that was present throughout the whole fiasco was perhaps more interesting than the content of the post itself.
The identity of the person who posted the picture and text messages on Laremy Tunsil’s own twitter account has never been revealed. Although, at the time, all fingers were pointed towards his stepfather.
As viewers watched the worst moment of an athlete’s life play out on their television screens, social media users dug for answers.
It quickly became apparent that Tunsil’s relationship with his stepfather wasn’t good. Just days before the 2016 Draft, Lindsey Miller, the stepfather, launched a lawsuit against Tunsil.
The suit alleged that Tunsil had attacked Miller and that the offensive tackle had since defamed Miller’s character.
Once social media got hold of this information, it was all but decided that this entire episode was some form of orchestrated retaliation on the part of Miller, to limit Tunsil’s earnings.
While there has never been any proof of the links, it remains one of the biggest rumors to ever hit NFL Draft day.
#1 - Don’t talk about Derrius Guice’s mother
If ever there was a case where rumors overtook a prospect, then it was Derrius Guice’s painful path to second-round selection in 2018.
Having excelled with LSU in college, Guice was projected to be a first-round selection. He became the first player in SEC history to have three games of 250 or more rushing yards, but his draft stock was about to fall.
What is bizarre about this story is the fact that Guice started the rumors himself. It’s unclear whether he was trying to build hype for his own selection, but it backfired.
At the NFL combine, Guice interviewed with a number of franchises. Yet, in an interview with Sirius XM, the player accused teams of asking him inappropriate questions.
“Some people are really trying to get in your head and test your reaction… I got to one room and a team will ask me if I like men, whilst another team will tell me ‘Hey, I heard your mom sells herself, how do you feel about that?’”
A lengthy investigation into these interviews was conducted by the NFL, but there was no evidence to support Guice’s claims. All this served to do was make teams lose trust in Guice, especially with him admitting to one of them that he made the story up.
Character concerns saw teams take the running back off their draft boards, and he slid into the second-round where he was eventually taken by Washington.
This is a truly bizarre story, and the damage caused to Guice’s draft stock was entirely self-inflicted as he started the rumor mill all on his own.
