Breaking: Mallett Rumored to Have Problems With Drugs, Leadership

Submitted by Geaux_Blue on

And boom goes the dynamite

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/

Murmurs have been going on and enough had been passed around before he even transferred that he had issues. None of it was citeable and the only things that could be pointed to were his blowups with players, etc. His recreation could be attributed to being young and a college kid, etc. It has been alluded to that teams had cooled significantly on Mallett in the past 6-8 months as stories from campus began leaking through whispers. Now a major news source is running with it.

On Sunday, Rob Rang of CBSSports.com reported that Mallett will be asked at the Scouting Combine about “so-called lack of leadership and reports of illegal drug use.”

Now, former Rams and Panthers exec Tony Softli, who now works for 101espn.com in St. Louis, has echoed Rang’s report.

“Heavy rumors of drug use and possible addiction kept [Mallett] from coming out for the 2010 draft,” Softli writes.

Again, no one is saying that Mallett has used drugs.  But it’s safe to say that he’ll be grilled about it at the Scouting Combine, and that teams will try hard in their allotted 15 minutes to get past the scripted and rehearsed responses he’ll be ready to recite with name, rank, and serial number consistency.

That he was being compared to Ryan Leaf means he could receive a Draft kiss of death and fall to 3rd or 4th round if enough people are gun shy. Hell, this makes all of the questionable things tied to Newton look like childsplay as a) eligibility isn't an issue in the NFL and b) he showed leadership and maturity in overcoming the media storm during a championship run.