One day after Joe Mixon announced he was foregoing his senior season to enter the 2017 NFL Draft, a report indicates he might not even be drafted this April.
This information comes by way of Bleacher Report’s Matt Miller, who cites the recent release of the video in which Mixon can be seen decking Oklahoma student Amelia Molitor back in 2014.
“While the crime was well known, NFL teams are officially scared off because it contradicts his camp’s argument that he was a victim, too,” Miller said.
On top of that, there’s the simple matter of optics. People have seen how brutal Mixon’s attack was on Molitor now, and what’s been seen cannot be unseen.
Like what we’ve witnessed with Ray Rice, who still cannot find work in the NFL despite his reformation and his work to educate people about domestic violence, Mixon is being viewed as an untouchable.
An explosive athlete who was the primary running back for Oklahoma during much of the second half of this season, Mixon was a dynamo during the Sugar Bowl. After giving a tearful public apology for his actions in the week leading up to the Sooners’ big bowl game, Mixon was a man possessed this past Monday against Auburn. He finished the game with 180 all purpose yards and two touchdowns, capping off a fantastic junior season.
It’s going to be interesting to see if the perception that Mixon is untouchable persists the closer we get to this upcoming draft in April. He’s a talent, to be sure. But given the NFL’s recent public push to distance itself from domestic violence, perhaps teams will truly stay away from him.
That’s what should have happened in 2015 with Frank Clark, who was drafted by the Seattle Seahawks in Round 2. Then again, there was no video of Clark abusing his ex-girlfriend, either.