NFL’s rules prohibiting players who had in the past been convicted of a violent crime from attending its annual Scouting Combine has come back to haunt former Louisiana Tech pass rusher Jaylon Ferguson.
Considered a potential first-round pick, the NCAA’s all-time sack-getter will not be attending the event in Indianapolis later this month due to an incident from his freshman year.
“Ferguson, the NCAA’s all-time sack leader, was convicted of simple battery his freshman year at Tech following a fight at a McDonald’s,” NFL Media’s Ian Rapoport noted on Wednesday.
Per the report, Ferguson also received a public intoxication charge while in college. Though, that was not enough to prevent him from attending the combine.
While these incidents were not public record ahead of Wednesday’s report, NFL teams knew about them.
On one hand, it’s good that the NFL is taking a serious stand on matters of violence. On the other hand, both Reuben Foster and Kareem Hunt just recently regained employment in the league.
For his part, Ferguson recorded an all-time NCAA high 47.5 sacks in his four seasons with the Bulldogs. That included 17.5 sacks this past year.
Now that he’s not going to the combine, teams will assuredly be looking to set up individual visits with the pass rusher.