Andre Smith AWOL From NFL Combine
Andre Smith, considered all season long as one of, if not the top offensive lineman in this year’s NFL draft, has gone AWOL from the NFL Scouting Combine, and the scouts are quickly dropping him down their lists.
Smith is a beast of a lineman, but has had issues following him before. He was suspended for Alabama’s BCS bowl loss to Utah for a violation of team rules.
He showed up this week for the combine but opted not to work out because he was “out of shape,” something you don’t want to be on the day of the biggest job interview that you will ever go to.
After not working out, Smith just disappeared. His “agent” told officials that Smith went back to Atlanta to resume working out, an answer that was not satisfactory to most observers.
The NFL Network’s Mike Mayock was the most vocal, saying that this behavior drops Smith down his board.
“I’m dropping him down on my list. You don’t show up in shape for the biggest job interview of your life. You don’t lift. You don’t run. You don’t show up. It’s the worst thing you can do. How can you not show up in shape for this?”
What better way to prove to your future employer that you are worth the multi-million dollar contract that you are after than by skipping your biggest workout?
I suppose if he was looking to erase the memory of his bowl game suspension, it worked. Just not in the way that he wanted it to.
Smith is a top three draft pick in talent, but his off the field issues, combined with his apparently poor work ethic has him dropping down draft boards, perhaps going in the middle of the first round or later. This potential drop could cost Smith several million dollars.
This is one of those times that I go against what I previously said and am fine with a player being judged by his combine performance over his on-field performance. At the end of the day, these teams are making investments, and they need to know that they are investing in someone that is willing to go to work for them.
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