“Here’s a guy who did it at Ohio State,” Mel Kiper said. “He led the Ohio State Buckeyes and was second in the Big Ten in sacks, so he did it at the major college level as a young player, a true sophomore. Then he ends up at Eastern Kentucky and he goes out and dominates again. He was second on the team in tackles as well as having 22.5 tackles for loss and 11.5 sacks, and he had a couple sacks against Kentucky out of the SEC.
“He’s 6’2 1/2” 254 lbs. so he’s bigger than Von Miller was coming out, Miller was 6’2 1/2″, 245 lbs. We don’t know what he’ll run yet, but Miller ran 4.42[second 40-yard dash], had 21 reps [in the bench press] and had a 37″ vertical.”
Sounds like an intriguing prospect, right? This player dominated at the Senior Bowl, has unbelievable athleticism, and produced both at Ohio State and Eastern Kentucky.
The prospect is Noah Spence.
Mock drafters have him projected to go anywhere from the 8th overall pick all the way to the 29th pick.
Why?
Those two dreaded words for draft prognosticators: character concerns.
This week, the week of the NFL Combine will be an interesting one for prospects like Spence. How comfortable teams become with him in interviews will determine where and by whom he ultimately ends up being drafted. You will likely see him move up and down draft boards based on what the talking heads hear from their sources. Most of the discussion will be about his past transgressions and how he plans on continuing to address them in the future.
If the Ravens think as highly of his speed-rush ability as some, he could be a candidate for the Ravens in a trade-back scenario.
It is impossible to completely eliminate character concerns. Ray Rice had a spotless rap sheet before the infamous elevator videos spread across the web and sports media. Dante Fowler Jr., whose scouting report includes no mention of any off-the-field concerns, starred in a video on Tuesday as a witness to his child’s mother and his girlfriend brawling in a hallway.
There is a chance of all players becoming distractions off the field. Players who hold out for larger contracts are a distraction. Players who get themselves into legal trouble are distractions. Some of that risk can be mitigated by looking at the player’s history, but many young athletes – and college students in general – get themselves into trouble with the law.
Spence could very well become one of those players, but the evidence of the past year suggest he may have turned a corner.
Spence’s past is marred by a history of Ecstasy abuse. Prior to a 2013 Big Ten Championship game, he failed a drug test, resulting in a three-game suspension. After that, he continued to use, and another failed drug test would end his Big Ten career. He would miss the entire 2014 season, and it pushed him down to FBS to Eastern Kentucky for his senior season.
Spence has taken major leaps forward to correct his issues. He has faced his demons head on, admitting that he had a substance problem. He hasn’t done so without incident, though. After drinking a bottle of wine with his friends in May of 2015, he tried to throw it in a trash can, but missed and it shattered. He acknowledged to police that “it was a stupid thing to do.”
Since, he has said he has stopped drinking and has cut some friends out of his life to make sure he doesn’t start partying again.
How confident can NFL teams be that Spence will stick to his recovery? With all of the money and fame that being in the NFL brings, will he be able to keep himself out of trouble?
The Ravens have a lot of holes to fill. It will be hard for them to take a player like Spence if they think he could miss time due to suspension. In the past, the Ravens have taken on riskier prospects like Jimmy Smith and Timmy Jernigan. Neither has had substantial character issues since. The Ravens were comfortable enough to make those picks in the first and second round respectively.
In order to even consider Spence, they will need to do the same with Spence in the combine interviews. They need to know what the chances are the he falls into his bad habits again.
Last year, Randy Gregory was projected to go very early in the draft by some, even in the top 10, but it didn’t pan out that way. The character concerns surround him dropped him all the way into the second round. NFL teams were concerned with his ability to handle the mental rigors of the NFL. Combine that with his failed drug test at the NFL Combine, and you end up with a top 10 talent falling all the way down to the 60th overall pick. Those concerns came to fruition this past Friday when Gregory received a 4-game suspension under the NFL’s substance abuse policy.
Spence, on the other hand, has made step forwards. He has been passing regular drug tests for over a year, and has a work ethic that has allowed him to attack his problems both on and off the field. He has made every effort to correct his past, and his ability to confront his demons shows a high level of maturity.
Character issues are a legitimate consideration for NFL front offices. They don’t want to deal with the embarrassment of headcases and locker room drama. It’s especially bad for business when a star player misses time on the field.
What is great for public relations, however, is redemption. The first chapter of Noah Spence’s redemption story has already been written. He seems committed to finishing it.
In a scenario Ravens end up trading back to the mid-teens, nabbing Noah Spence would be worth the risk. If he falls into the bottom of the 1st where the Ravens could trade up, it would be even better.
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