No one has been the subject of more pre-draft rumors and innuendo than Ryan Mallett. He faced a number of questions about possible drug use at the Combine from the media, but said that information would stay between him and the team.
According to Nolan Nawrocki of Pro Football Weekly, Mallett came clean to teams behind closed doors.
“One G.M. said Mallett was the first quarterback ever to admit his drug usage to him in interviews, and his willingness to be honest about his past and acknowledge issues is viewed as a positive,” Nawrocki writes. “Concerns about his history of use could impact his draft position, though.”
The report doesn’t indicate what drug use Mallett copped to, but it appears he never failed a test.
“Although Mallett did not produce an official positive test at Arkansas, he has been arrested for public intoxication and carries a reputation as a ‘big party guy,’ per sources who have interviewed him,” Nawrocki writes. “How much teams believe he has matured will weigh into his draft status.”
No matter what Mallett did at school, we believe it’s better that he addressed the issue head on when meeting with teams, even if he didn’t address the rumors with the media.