Winners and Losers from the NFL Combine

Loser – Robert Nkemdiche

Ole Miss defensive tackle Robert Nkemdiche is one of the mostly highly-touted lineman in a draft full of talented defensive lineman. On the field he was what he was supposed to be during the combine: Big (6’3″, 294 pounds); long (33 7/8-inch arms, 10 3/4-inch hands); fast (4.87-second official 40-yard dash); and strong (28 repetitions on the bench press at 225 pounds). He’s a great athlete, posting a solid height in the vertical leap (35 inches) and good distance in the broad jump (9′ 8″). In the drills, he didn’t do anything to hurt himself or his stock.

But the one area that Nkemdiche really did hurt himself was in the interview process. That process should be used to make yourself look good, but Nkemdiche took a different route. He took the opportunity to blame the media for blowing his December incident out of proportion, and hurting his reputation in the process. That December incident is cause for a lot of concern in itself, as Nkemdiche was drunk (which he admitted during the interviews, denying he was high, as initially claimed) when he fell out of a fourth-story window at a hotel in Atlanta, Georgia. He was also charged with marijuana possession for the incident after police found seven joints in the room. He did, however, take responsibility for the incident by saying it was “all my fault”.

During the same interview, Nkemdiche also said that Laremy Tunsil, his former teammate at Mississippi who has largely been projected as the number-one overall pick this year by the Tennessee Titans, was in the hotel room. So not only did Nkemdiche create more issues for himself, but he helped create some for Tunsil as well. It’s the good old fashioned two-for-one. That wasn’t all, as he said he took the fall (his words, pun probably not intended) for the weed because no one else in the room would take responsibility.

Nkemdiche also called out his own play on the field, saying he was “lazy on some plays at times”, but stated he is still growing as a player and learning to finish plays. While that level of honestly, however brutal at times, can be appreciated, Nkemdiche didn’t do a great job of portraying himself in the best light during the interview process. First-round level players have fallen out to later rounds for lesser offenses in the past. Whatever team selects Nkemdiche is taking a fairly big risk.

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