All sports have ‘silly seasons.’ They invariably occur during slow news or offseason periods when there is such little actual news, that rumors flourish. The NFL Draft season has one too.
The NFL has a unique silly season. It occurs every year during the week of the NFL Draft. It is characterized by leaks of purported information, designed by a team to confuse other teams. The misinformation is calculated for many purposes. Often the misinformation is used to question or diminish the value of a player a team hopes will be available to be one of their draft selections.
Is this currently going on with former Alabama Crimson Tide offensive lineman, Evan Neal? Less than 36 hours ago, some NFL Draft experts were asking if Jacksonville should take Neal as the first overall pick. Then out came some reports of teams being wary of Neal for an unspecified medical concern.
Some teams medically failed and removed from their draft board Alabama LT Evan Neal and Central Michigan OT Bernhard Raimann. https://t.co/7Qyqa5Sxmg
— Charlie Campbell (@DraftCampbell) April 25, 2022
Charlie Campbell is no newcomer to NFL Drafts. Is he discussing what he knows to be fact, or is he passing along an example of NFL team misinformation discussed above? Facts are at a premium during NFL Draft week. They can also be drowned out by other conversations.
Searching for more information about Neal’s medical ‘condition’ reveals no new substance. If, and that is likely a very big IF, Evan Neal does have something teams should be concerned about, why would it just now become known? NFL teams do not wait until the 11th hour to ascertain the health of players.
All of this is perplexing to fans. But just imagine how disconcerting it must be for the young man.
Perhaps more will be learned between now and when the NFL Draft kicks off Thursday night. Or a cloud of uncertainty could also linger until Neal’s name is called.
Arguably the NFL Draft expert with the most, direct connections to NFL teams is NBC’s Peter King. King’s star may have faded in recent years, but in his career, King has been more right about first-round selections than anyone else.
On Monday, Peter King said,
"There’s been some chatter about teams downgrading him because of medical issues, but I’m told at least three-quarters of the teams in the league are good with his health."
In King’s mock draft that came out Monday, he has Neal being the No. 6 selection to the Carolina Panthers. He also commented that Neal might be chosen at No. 5 by the New York Giants.
Alabama football fans are certainly hoping that Evan Neal has no serious medical issues and that his stock will not drop by Thursday night.