Mike Mayock thinks Reuben Foster is still a top-10 NFL draft pick after failed drug test
Reuben Foster was an All-American in 2016, but the pre-draft process has raised question marks.
by Adam Stites Apr 21, 2017, 3:26pm EDT
Alabama linebacker Reuben Foster revealed Thursday that he failed a drug test at the NFL Combine, but NFL Network’s Mike Mayock said Friday that he doesn’t believe it will do much to Foster’s draft stock.
Foster blamed food poisoning for forcing him to hydrate to the point that his urine sample was reported as diluted at the NFL Combine. The league treats that as a failed test, and Foster was later sent home from the event after a “heated argument” with a hospital worker.
"There are some red flags there,” Mayock said on a conference call. “I think the combine incident has been wiped clean by almost every team. I think that was way overdone and the kid should not have been sent home. That's my opinion and most people in the league believe that.
"As far as the diluted sample at the combine, that's always really disappointing and has to be taken into consideration. I think the shoulder is apparently going to be OK from a re-check perspective, I don't see him sliding all that far. I think he's a top-20 pick all day long in any draft. Could he have been a top-10 pick? He still might be a top-10 pick.”
The Cincinnati Bengals — owners of the No. 9 pick on Thursday — have been a popular landing spot for Foster in mock drafts. Still, a spot in the top 10 looks like an uphill climb for Foster after his recent transgressions.
Longtime NFL draft analyst Tony Pauline has heard much different of Foster in his conversations with teams.
“Reuben Foster has dropped dramatically,” Pauline wrote Friday. “The news of his failed/diluted drug test from yesterday was the icing on the cake. One team was ready to take him in the middle of Round 1 but has backed off. I’m told it’s a combination of what’s described as ‘horrible behavior,’ as well as concussion issues.”
Foster had at least two documented concussions during his time at Alabama — once in a 2016 game and another in a 2014 scrimmage — and recently underwent shoulder surgery, although his agent says the linebacker will be ready for training camp.
Foster was a unanimous All-American during his senior season in 2016 and won the Butkus Award recognizing the nation’s top linebacker. But he’ll find out next week if those accomplishments earn him a spot early in the draft order or if he’s in for a slide.
