[CBFF] [Fwd: SO WHERE WILL MCFADDEN FALL?]

Sat Apr 26 09:01:22 MDT 2008

Most of this is a smokescreen by teams thru the media.  I'm not
discounting legit issues with previously drafted players, but this has
the appearances of some team either wanting a player to drop to them
or looking for any reason to pass on a player.

On 4/26/08, mactbone <mactbone0 at yahoo.com> wrote:
> Did anyone think the Vikings would take AP? Especially after the injury problems?
> McFadden is a legit top 5 pick and will be gone before 11. Everyone's letting all this extra stuff affect their judgement on a player who carried his team to victories. Guy even had an offense created to utilitize him more.
> -Chris
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----
> From: Tom Shannon <tshanno at gmail.com>
> To: post at chicagobearsfanforum.com
> Sent: Saturday, April 26, 2008 9:40:36 AM
> Subject: [CBFF] [Fwd: SO WHERE WILL MCFADDEN FALL?]
>
> I think he's got a point.  The key pick here is the Raiders at #4.  If
> he gets past them, the slide might not stop for a while.  But Davis is
> feeling his mortality and he is obviously trying to win right now.  He
> won't give a darned if the mother and brothers drag this guy down as
> long as they win this year.
>
> Tom S.
> --
> http://www.profootballtalk.com/2008/04/26/so-where-will-mcfadden-fall/
>
>
>     SO WHERE WILL MCFADDEN FALL?
>     <http://www.profootballtalk.com/2008/04/26/so-where-will-mcfadden-fall/>
>
> Posted by Mike Florio on April 26, 2008, 8:58 a.m.
>
> Without any clear-cut, must-have players in this year's draft, there's
> an extra layer of intrigue because it's more unclear than ever where
> many of the best players will fall.
>
> The most unclear — and most intriguing — is Arkansas running back Darren
> McFadden.  His talent is undeniable, but he has been dogged character
> issues resulting from a troubled upbringing and a couple of incidents
> that got him in no real trouble.  Still, it that makes many wonder
> whether any real trouble is on the horizon.
>
> It also makes us wonder whether there was other stuff that happened in
> Arkansas that never saw the light of day.  We're aware of no other
> specific or general incidents involving McFadden, but given that the
> Razorbacks play in a small state with limited media coverage, it
> wouldn't surprise us to learn that, if there was any other stuff
> involving McFadden, it was kept tightly under wraps by the Arkansas
> program, and by local television, newspaper, and radio outlets that
> possibly weren't interested in jeopardizing their access by pressing the
> matter.
>
> One of the glaring problems is the fact that McFadden spent ten years in
> a household with a mother who was addicted to crack.  (This recent item
> <http://www.usatoday.com/sports/football/nfl/2008-04-15-mcfadden-cover_N.htm>
> from Skip Wood of /USA Today /does a great job of describing the
> situation.)  Though McFadden is his own man, the influence of that
> experience on his development is unknown.
>
> And his mother figures to be one of those colorful characters who
> periodically come along in sports.  Too willing to talk, and too willing
> to be too candid when doing so, Mini Muhammad first created a
> distraction for her son's football career last August, when she said
> that McFadden would leave school early
> <http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=2969546> and enter the 2008
> draft.  A swift denial was issued.  And, of course, he ultimately left
> school early and entered the 2008 draft.
>
> A league source told us on Friday that ESPN aired earlier in the week an
> interview of McFadden, which included separate segments with McFadden
> and his mother.  The video is now nowhere to be found, and apparently
> did not enter the library of stuff that ESPN periodically airs again and
> again (and again).  (We're not complaining . . . except when we're
> watching the same thing for the eighth time.)
>
> Here's how the source described one portion of the interview:  "Darren's
> mother proclaimed that her crack habit was always second fiddle to her
> putting food on the table and keeping a roof over her 12 kids' heads.
> She ensured the interviewer that she always made sure her family and
> kids were taken care of despite her addiction.  But Darren then was seen
> talking about how he and his family never knew where their next meal
> would come from or if the water or power would be on when they woke up."
>
> She also said, per the source who saw the interview, that McFadden's
> family members know not to smoke marijuana around him.
>
> And here's how the source summed up the interview:  "The interview was
> horrible for McFadden's reputation.  If his own comments did not sell
> you, his mother's comments beat it into your head.  Thank God they could
> not find any of Darren's brothers to speak their mind.  They must have
> been smoking pot, since they know not to do that around [Darren], per
> mom's orders."
>
> McFadden, in an ESPN interview that hasn't (yet) been tossed into the
> abyss, vows that his family won't affect his career.  "My family
> understands what I have going on and what I have on the line, and they
> won't be a problem at all."
>
> But, still, McFadden has been keeping his mother in a position to
> potentially create problems, even if the problems are mere annoyances.
> Most recently, Mini Muhammad politicked on Friday for the Cowboys to
> draft McFadden, according to Sam Farmer of the /Los Angeles Times/.  She
> specifically doesn't want him to be picked by the Jets at No. 6.
>
> "I hate New York; it's too big
> <http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-spw-mcfadden25apr25,1,553056.story>,"
> Muhammad said . . . while attending a pre-draft event in New York.
>
> Other than the Cowboys, she wants him to play for the Falcons or
> "whatever team they've got there in Tennessee."
>
> Though he might not still be on the board when "whatever team they've
> got there in Tennessee" is using the 24th pick in round one, we suddenly
> wouldn't be surprised if he slides farther than anyone realizes.
>
> If he gets past No. 4 and the Raiders, of course.  Al Davis, in our
> view, is thinking only about this year, and McFadden is the guy who can
> have the biggest impact right now on a football team.
>
>
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