Oakland Raiders: Is Robert Nkemdiche Worth Rolling The Dice On?

The Oakland Raiders are in the market for a pass rusher and have been rumored to be interested in Robert Nkemdiche – but given his off the field issues, is he worth the risk?

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Assuming that Oakland Raiders GM Reggie McKenzie doesn’t open the checkbook and (over)pay for Denver defensive end and free agent to be Malik Jackson – spoiler alert, he shouldn’t – the team may be looking to bolster the position through the draft. Some have speculated that they could be interested in Mississippi’s Robert Nkedmiche. But do his off the field troubles make him more trouble than he might be worth?

At six foot four and 296 pounds, Nkemdiche is a big body who is quick enough to get around a corner, fast enough to run down a quarterback, and strong enough to take on and shed blocks. With a 4.87 second 40, 28 reps at 225 pounds, a 35 inch vertical, and a nine foot, eight inch broad jump, Nkemdich has put up numbers at the Scouting Combine that rank him near the top percentile for interior linemen.

He’s versatile, having played inside and outside on the line and has flashed tremendous athletic ability. At one point last year, Nkemdiche was being touted as a possible number one overall pick. His athleticism has drawn the interest of scouts around the league. However, his off the field issues may have scared a good number of them away.

Of course, this is the time of year when doublespeak, obfuscation, and outright lying is the norm. Scouts don’t want to tip their hands and keep everything they really believe close to the vest. Of course, when it comes to Nkemdiche, there are some very legitimate concerns that might keep him from going as high as he might have at one time.

That potential slide – if it does indeed happen as Charles Robinson of Yahoo Sports believes it will – could allow him to fall to the Raiders at fourteen. Nkemdiche has the talent to be a top ten pick, but his off the field troubles, according to Robinson, could potentially bounce him down to the second round. If not lower.

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If you’ll recall, Nkemdiche is the player who fell out of a hotel room window during a party one night in Atlanta. During interviews at the Combine, Nkemdiche claimed that he was drunk and not stoned when he fell out of the window – without actually explaining how he came to fall out of a window – despite the fact that police found marijuana in his hotel room.

Nkemdiche went a step further though, claiming his teammate Laremy Tunsil was also present when he fell out of the window, implying that he was arrested simply because others were not willing to “take the fall” (perhaps Cris Carter style?) after the marijuana was found.

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He also admitted that he was “lazy at times” on plays while at Ole Miss – an admission that likely isn’t going to endear him to NFL teams around the league. But credit to Nkemdiche – he says that those are his stories, they’re his truth, and he’s sticking to them. Props for that we guess?

Scouts have been less than enthusiastic about Nkedmiche – again though, take these words with a grain of salt as they’re not exactly unbiased when it comes to discussing prospects.

One scout said that, “He’s really a different kid. He may scare some people. He’s strange strange.” Another added that, “He’s got as much ability as anybody, if not more. Three-technique is his best position. He’s a little bit up and down, but his good plays are very, very good. But there’s some things that have to be answered and worked through.” And the most worrisome thing said about Nkemdiche was, “His character will keep him off the board for us. He’s talented enough to be in the top 10. But holy (expletive), buyer beware on this one.”

So Nkemdiche obviously as skill and pro potential. He didn’t rack up huge stats while at Ole Miss – 81 total tackles (16 for a loss) and six sacks over his three years there. But then, Mario Edwards Jr. didn’t rack up big statistics while at Florida State and he was starting to pan out as a pretty good prospect for the Raiders before an injury sidelined him late last season.

The question McKenzie and HC Jack Del Rio are going to have to answer is whether his off the field trouble makes him more of a liability than an asset. While his infraction seems relatively minor in the grand scheme of things – being allegedly drunk and/or high and falling out of a window seems to be far less serious than say, domestic abuse, or rape allegations – but they do raise questions about his judgment.

He has a tantalizing mixture of size and speed – and at the Combine, he’s showed the ability and skill that had scouts pegging him as a high first round prospect just a year ago. But those character questions still linger.

In a world of Randy Gregory, Justin Blackmon, Josh Gordon, and Johnny Manziel, teams have to be worried about the character of their players. Off the field issues are as important as on the field production – simply because of the fact that those off the field issues have the potential to derail the on the field production.

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This is a pretty pivotal year for the Raiders. They have a solid core of young, exciting players and they are a team on the rise. They are perhaps a team that can challenge for an AFC West crown in 2016. But they have to make the most of this draft and cannot afford to waste a pick on a player who won’t be there because of disciplinary issues.

Nkemdiche seems to have the physical tools needed to succeed at the next level. Now, McKenzie and Del Rio have to decide if he has the right mental and emotional make up to go along with it. They have to decide if his past issues can remain in the past and if he’s worth rolling the dice on in the here and now.