Did Steelers draft Adams … or vice versa?
It has gone unreported, probably unnoticed, for good while now.
If or when it is ever investigated, it likely would be found that nothing unseemly occurred.
But it is my opinion that when the Steelers drafted Mike Adams in the second round of the 2012 NFL draft that a precedent may have been set.
In case you missed it, it went something like this:
Adams had been penciled in as a potential first-round draft choice whose stock was falling slightly because of his perceived lack of passion for the game. It tumbled further when he failed a drug test at the NFL combine and lied about drug use to several teams, including the Steelers.
Trying to regain his draft status, Adams called the Steelers (and only the Steelers) to fess up. He was told he was off their draft board, but that he could earn his way back on by meeting some criteria the team asked him to meet.
He did and the Steelers used a late second-round pick to get a first-round talent.
None of this is against NFL drafting rules, but I think the league should look into the whole thing now, while it’s fresh, to keep it from becoming precedent-setting.
The basic point is this: Did Adams circumvent the entire draft process and determine where he would begin his professional career?
The kid is from Farrell and made no bones about the fact that he grew up rooting for his hometown pro football team. He wanted nothing as much as he wanted to be picked by the Steelers.
Now, I don’t believe Adams orchestrated this grand plan. I don’t think he’s sharp enough to have even conceived such a plan, let alone carry it out. Nor do I believe that his agent, Pittsburgh native Eric Metz, would have helped him orchestrate it.
And, yes, Adams lost a couple million dollars by dropping himself from the first round to the bottom of the second. Why would anyone do that on purpose?
But this is what the NFL should want to know for sure, that it was not a preconceived plan to get Adams and the Steelers together.
Short of an NFL look-see, what’s to keep some hot-shot prospect who grew up in, say, Dallas from determining that he wanted to play for the Cowboys.
Forget about the money for a second. So this kid talks to his agent. The agent looks at the Adams’ case and tells the prospect to smoke pot on his way to the combine. A month or so later, the kid shows up in Jerry Jones’ office begging for a chance to get back on the Cowboys’ draft board.
And there you have it. A precedent-establishing prospect-drafts-a-team scenario that would have the NFL’s best snoopers all over it.
And all the investigators would be told is, all we did was follow the Adams’ blueprint.
That’s why the league needs to at the very least look into the Adams/Steelers situation now. They’ll likely find nothing illegal or immoral happened, that it was just a big coincidence. If nothing else, they could rubber stamp it and let all teams know that they will be watching for such things in the future.
The Steelers were very forthcoming in making sure they got the whole story out as it unfolded for them. It’s up to the league to see how it played out in the Adams’ camp.
For more sports commentary, check HeraldStandard.com every Saturday.