Conduct Issues Still Play Big Role as Draft Approaches

As last year's NFL draft neared, the off-field behavior of players was a leaguewide concern.

Commissioner Roger Goodell just had toughened the personal conduct policy in reaction to a series of misdeeds by players. He'd handed out lengthy suspensions to Tennessee Titans cornerback Adam "Pacman" Jones and Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Chris Henry, and he'd even threatened to punish any franchise with a large number of offenders. The Michael Vick controversy just had begun to become significant news with reports of a link between the Atlanta Falcons quarterback and a dogfighting operation at a property that he owned in Virginia.

There was no doubt that coaches and general managers would have to think long and hard before drafting any player with a history of misbehavior.

A year later and, thanks to the videotaping scandal involving the New England Patriots, cheating has replaced player conduct as the issue on which Goodell most recently has cracked down. But if anyone suspects that the conduct issue is a fading memory and teams will be more inclined to select players with checkered pasts in next weekend's draft, current and former NFL executives said in recent days they don't expect that to be the case.

"Oh no, I think it's still very much on everyone's mind," former Titans general manager Floyd Reese said. "The thing that stood out about the commissioner's policy was that teams could be reprimanded and disciplined for having a significant number of players with those issues. Whereas at one time you maybe had a guy with second-round talent and you were in the fourth round, you might go ahead and take him, it's more difficult to go ahead and do that now because of the additional risks to the team."

Said Eric DeCosta, the Baltimore Ravens' director of college scouting: "With the commissioner, he's put a huge premium on character. I think you're going to see, even more so than ever before, teams really playing hardball with some of these guys that have made mistakes in the past."

For teams now setting their draft boards and making their final evaluations of the available players, there are reminders all around about the effects of the crackdown on misconduct.

Jones, the sixth overall choice in the 2005 draft, was suspended for all of last season and still has not been reinstated by Goodell, who has said he will reconsider the cornerback's playing status before training camp. The Dallas Cowboys have been negotiating with the Titans to trade for Jones, but Goodell has said he's offered no assurances about Jones's availability. Henry, suspended for the first half of last season, was released by the Bengals this month after being charged with misdemeanor assault and criminal damaging. Vick is serving a 23-month federal prison sentence and is on indefinite suspension by the league, his football future in doubt.

Reese said the money given to top draft picks has made it necessary for teams to be more careful than ever about conduct.

"It's always been an issue, but now the money has made it a bigger issue," Reese said in a telephone interview. "You see high-profile players get involved with things and making such poor decisions, and they're multimillion-dollar decisions. It's something you pay attention to. There were things in the old days that you might have blown off as just a fraternity prank or a bar fight. You don't now. You can't afford to have a pick like that go bad for that reason because not only are you wasting the pick, but you're also wasting all that money."

Goodell has said in recent months that there has been a 20 percent decline in criminal incidents involving NFL players since the toughened conduct policy. "We have made progress," Goodell said recently at the annual league meeting.

The effects of the policy were evident during last year's draft, when several players with histories of criminal incidents were chosen later than their talent level might have dictated.