The 2024 NFL Draft is shaping up to be mysterious. Every year there’s some sort of draft day surprise. Last year, it was the Houston Texans trading back up to No. 3 so they could draft Will Anderson Jr. after selecting C.J. Stroud.
In past years, we’ve seen players selected far ahead of their expected draft slot, like the Las Vegas Raiders in 2021, making Alex Leatherwood the 17th overall pick. Then, there’s the opposite end, where top prospects experience an unexpected draft day slide, such as Aaron Rodgers falling to the 24th pick in 2005 or other one-off events like the Laremy Tunsil gas mask episode.
The point is, every year, the NFL Draft presents a new surprise in a fast-moving atmosphere that never lacks excitement and intrigue. With as many as five quarterbacks projected to become first-round picks, the 2024 NFL Draft will be no different.
Another aspect that impacts the public perception and reality is the secretive off-field reports that emerge every year ahead of the draft. We may have just gotten our first bombshell.
Malik Nabers: Off-field concerns or bogus reports intended tank NFL draft stock?
According to Sportskeeda’s Tony Pauline, star LSU receiver Malik Nabers has some “off-the-field questions” that could impact his NFL Draft stock.
“The LSU junior is known as a high-maintenance prospect who may struggle in a big city. There are off-the-field questions Nabers has had to answer during the draft process, and teams must feel comfortable with those answers if they’re going to invest an early draft pick and millions of dollars in his services.”
Sportskeeda’s Tony Pauline on Malik Nabers
Reports like this emerge each year. Many times, the slant is completely bogus, whereas other times, the nuggets are legitimate. We’re not here to suggest anything about Nabers, but these reports could cause teams to ask the unanimous All-American a few more pointed questions if they weren’t already aware of any potential concerns.
It’s very possible teams leak this type of information with the hope it will negatively impact their intended target’s draft stock. Opposing player agents could even have motivation to release damaging information, hoping it helps their client get drafted higher than expected.
We don’t know where Pauline’s sources are coming from, and obviously, he’d never reveal them for good reason, yet it’s hard not to imagine the potential impact this tidbit of information could have on Nabers on draft day if it has any merit.
Nabers is viewed as the second-best receiver prospect in the 2024 NFL Draft class, and some even view him as the best. At 6-feet tall, Nabers is far from the biggest wideout in the draft prospect pool, but his electric athleticism and elite production catching passes from Jayden Daniels has scouts eager to see how well his skills translate to the pros.
Meanwhile, as mentioned, these ‘concerns’ about Nabers may not have any truth to them at all. As you can see, some have a great amount of distaste for these types of reports about young prospects who get caught up in the drama of NFL Draft circles, and we can’t blame them.
There is so much wrong with this “report,” I don’t even know where to start. To attack a young person’s character with anonymous quotes less than three weeks before the NFL Draft is flat-out wrong. Malik Nabers deserves better.
— Jordan Schultz (@Schultz_Report) April 7, 2024
This stuff happens every year during draft season,… https://t.co/EabsYaAgU9
Related: 2024 NFL mock draft: Projecting Drake Maye, J.J. McCarthy, and Michael Penix Jr.’s NFL landing spots