Rolling the Dice
Character Evaluation a Hit or Miss Proposition
By Shannon Boyle

Former Minnesota Viking and current Green Bay Packer wide receiver Koren Robinson has been arrested twice recently for driving under the influence of alcohol. His last run- in, just this past August, led to his release from the Vikings. Two San Diego Chargers players, Steve Foley and Shaun Phillips-both on separate occasions-were arrested in April for resisting arrest and fighting with police officers. Foley was later shot by San Diego police in a scuffle outside his home. A third Chargers player, Terrence Keil, was arrested in late September on drug related charges. Cincinnati Bengals receiver Chris Henry had four arrests in a nine month span this past year; his teammate Odell Thurman, currently serving a year-long suspension for violating the NFL's substance abuse policy, was arrested on a DUI charge late last month. Henry was with Thurman at the time. And Steelers first-round draft pick Santonio Holmes was arrested twice in a 25-day span this summer.

These are only a few of the athletes that have had issues with the law in the National Football League. Most NFL teams constantly keep their players under surveillance, and many view off the field problems as legitimate character issues.

"You can't change a tiger's stripes. What you see in college usually is what you will get in the pros," Metro Index scout Joe Butler said. Monitoring Your Investment

The NFL spends a lot of time and money on their athletes. Each player is an important investment in the world of professional football.

Coaches and personnel managers throughout the league are able to use college football, the NFL combine, workouts and training camps to evaluate potential athletes' talent. Obviously knowing how to play the game, and play the game well enough to earn millions of dollars, is important - but when an NFL team looks for prospects should they be paying more attention to an athlete's character? The Steelers' Holmes was most recently charged with domestic violence and assault against the mother of one of his children. Less than a month prior to that, he was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct in Miami. He also had a run in with the law in 2003 while at Ohio State University, where he was also charged with disorderly conduct.

"It's troubling in the sense that there are things going on in Santonio's life with his family that can be a problem, but that doesn't change the fact that they made a good trade to get him [in the NFL Draft] and he's a player that's going to be valued and is a very talented guy," said ESPN analyst John Clayton.

NFL teams do make attempts to evaluate players' character. Most teams use former coaches, friends and family to find more information on an athlete's personal issues.

Additionally, athletes are often assessed by psychologists and other medical professionals.

"When you evaluate football playing ability, it's pretty evident. You watch a film, you watch games and you watch practice," Steelers director of football operations Kevin Colbert said. "With the medical stuff, you have documentation on injuries and surgeries and different things of that nature. Character is a little more difficult to ascertain just because there are so many variables and most of them are intangible. You can't put a height or a weight or a surgery date on it."

Colbert also said that character evaluation is an import part of the Steelers' evaluation process.

"We're going to evaluate them [potential Steelers] as a player, character-wise and medically," Colbert said. "And when those three things add up, hopefully you've got the type of player and the type of person that we want to be a Pittsburgh Steeler."

Colbert believes that it is vital that the NFL gets as many opinions on an athlete as possible.

"Find out about their families, find out about any criminal records that they may or may not have, you try to do psychological evaluations and you just try to formulate your own feeling on a player," Colbert said. "You want to feel good about any player that we're going to bring in, and if we draft a guy, then we do feel good about him." Hit and Miss

Even though the Steelers and other NFL teams evaluate potential professional football players' character issues, there are still plenty who slip through the cracks.

Football players that make it to the professional level are extremely brilliant athletes. Many can change a football game, season or franchise. However, there are times when character issues hold an athlete back.

"It all depends on how good an athlete is at the game. If they are going to be picked in the first or second round of the draft then chances are character issues aren't that big of a deal," Butler said. "The later rounds are when character comes into play. If they are that good they are going to get picked up by a team."

Some organizations seem more concerned with on the field production rather than an athletes' behavior in society at large.

The Bengals in particular have a recent history with athletes having problems with the law. Head coach Marvin Lewis said that the team was going to pay more attention to character and red-flag issues about potential and current players' after an off-season that saw a failed drug test by Thurman, multiple arrests for Henry, and criminal charges against defensive tackle Matthias Askew.

Yet the Bengals drafted Southern Cal defensive end Frostee Rucker, who has a record with accusations of sexual assault and indecent exposure; and linebacker A.J. Nicholson, who was charged with burglarizing the apartment of a former Florida State teammate. They then selected former Virginia linebacker Ahmad Brooks in the supplemental draft - after Brooks was dismissed from the UVA team prior to spring practice due to a failed drug test.

The Bengals would not comment on the incidents involving their athletes' legal woes, but team president Mike Brown issued a statement in response to questions about his players' recent run-ins with the law.

"We want our fans to know that we share their concerns regarding the recent off-field conduct of several Bengals players. We expect our players to be good citizens, as most are, and we hold them accountable for their conduct under team and league rules," Brown said in his statement.

Obviously the Bengals are not the only team in the NFL dealing with character issues on a large scale. A year ago the Vikings were in the headlines for their behavior on a charter cruise. They were blamed for drunkenness, nudity and visible sexual activity.

There is a long list of NFL players whose careers were derailed by personal problems-recent ones include Ricky Williams, Maurice Clarett and Barret Robbins. Still many others, such as the Baltimore Ravens' Ray Lewis and Jamal Lewis, have worked through such issues to enjoy successful careers.

In the NFL-at least in most cases-athleticism, speed and size still tend to trump potential red-flags related to character.

In the end, it's an investment - and most teams still seem willing to roll the dice regarding their return.

Shannon Boyle is a staff writer for PSR.