Once upon a time, NFL scouts weren't all that worried about what NFL Draft hopefuls did when they weren't playing football. They were more concerned with 40-yard dash times and reps on the bench press than they were with criminal records and bad attitudes. But because of all the trouble that some NFL players have gotten themselves into over the years, "character issues" are one of the worst flaws that a draft-eligible player can have today. There are players who go from first-round locks to third or fourth-round picks simply because of the problems that they've encountered away from the football field.
Does "character" really matter, though? It's a question that a lot of NFL teams are going to ask this spring when they look into the possibility of drafting a player like Jameis Winston, especially in light of the news about Johnny Manziel (a guy who had "character issues" coming into the NFL) checking himself into rehab. But to try and get a better sense of how much character does or doesn't actually matter, we took A Look at the Careers of NFL Draft Picks Experts Warned Us About. These guys all had "issues," but did their issues really make a difference once they got to the NFL?