The NFL Draft’s first round wrapped up pretty quickly. Teams knew who they wanted but more so who they didn’t want. Tim Tebow celebrated at his home in Florida as he put on a Denver Broncos cap after being taken with the twenty-fifth pick.He said what many were thinking when he told Jeremy Schaap of ESPN that the Broncos knew that by picking him they were getting a guy who won’t get in trouble.

The word “character” was thrown around all night just as it has been for the entire episode involving Ben Roethlisberger. The media or perhaps the NFL began using character a few years back as a euphemism for words like, good behavior, discipline, lack of ego and law abiding citizen.

Despite being a first round pick in mock drafts from the likes of Mel Kiper and Mike Mayock, Jimmy Clausen was left sitting in his home in California without a phone call from any NFL team.

Generally acknowledged as the easiest of the available quarterbacks to fit into an NFL offense, Clausen had trouble with one of the meanings behind the use of the word character.

He is called arrogant and cocky. He admitted this week on the Dan Patrick radio program that he was asked about that on interviews with teams that showed interest in him.

His answer to the question was to send the clubs to his coaches and teammates, leaving draft watchers to wonder if those worries were being confirmed as Clausen went undrafted in round one.

Character is in the eye of the beholder of course and just to prove that point, Jerry Jones, owner of the Dallas Cowboys gleefully plucked wide receiver Dez Bryant out of the pile.
Bryant was considered worthy of the #4 pick by Kiper and #11 by Mayock but came perilously close to being left out of the fun.

Jones, known as a guy who loves turnaround projects, (TO, Tank Johnson, Adam Jones) saw the glass half full when it came to the subject of Bryant.
Rather than seeing his run-in with the NCAA as a reason to ignore his obvious talents, Jones traded up to get him at #24. You think he had Deion Sanders whispering encouragement in his ear?

The Cowboys gave New England their third round pick at #90 in exchange for a chance to get Bryant and the Pats fourth round pick. But without the intervention from Jones, Bryant would be sitting in the same spot as Clausen.

It used to be that legal trouble, drug use or team suspensions were the hot buttons for NFL draft experts. Not any longer. If you’ve got an iffy personality or one that can’t be deciphered and considered manageable you better prepare yourself for getting overlooked. Rounds two and three kick off tonight at 6 pm EDT.

Re-printed with permission of the author.

Paula Duffy is a national sports columnist for Examiner.com and the Huffington Post and regularly comments on sports/legal matters for radio affiliates of ESPN and Fox Sports. She founded the sports information site, Incidental Contact, is the author of a line of audio books designed for sports novices and in her spare time practices law in Los Angeles. 

Copyright ©2010 Sports Climax™