One NFL Executive Considers Joe Mixon to be the Best Player in the Draft
Joe Johnson
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Baggage carrying running back Joe Mixon of Oklahoma, who has been linked to the Vikings since Oklahoma’s pro-day back in early March, has been called one of the better (If not the best) overall running-backs in Thursday’s Draft. One, nameless, NFL executive took that a step further over the weekend when probed by The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and said that Mixon was the best overall player in the entire draft.
16 anonymous league executives were asked to name who they thought was the best player in the draft, regardless of position. Consensus number one overall pick Myles Garrett garnered 11 of those picks, followed by LSU safety Jamal Adams, Alabama linebacker Reuben Foster (With one pick), Stanford defensive lineman Soloman Thomas and then Mixon.
Both the Miami Dolphins and New England Patriots have removed Mixon from their boards completely, stemming mostly from an incident in 2014 where Mixon punched a woman at a restaurant and was charged with misdemeanor assault. There was an additional incident in which Mixon got into an altercation with a parking meter maid (Sound familiar?), ripping up a parking ticket and throwing it in her face. Despite these incidents and a ban from the NFL Combine earlier this year, the Vikings have been publicly linked to the talented young back. The out in the open nature of which have lead some to speculate that the “interest” was nothing more than pre-draft subterfuge on the part of the Vikings.
I’ve been pretty open, myself, in my support for the Vikings selecting Mixon. I am a strong believer in second chances and should Mixon be willing to do the right things, I’d have no issue with them selecting him with their first overall pick come Friday night. Now, at least part of that has to do with the fact that the Vikings offense is dangerously low on play-makers and I understand that. Without the 2014 incident there’d be no way that the Vikings would be able to snag a player of Mixon’s ilk in the mid-second round, so I don’t want to have my love of the team completely over-shadow the off-the-field antics of a player. But, again, he did pay his debt to society and he will end up losing millions (In contracts and any sponsorship deals) so, again, if he’s changed his behavior then I’m all for him joining the Vikings as he has been punished.
I believe that there would be no better judge of that then Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer, who left Oklahoma’s pro-day with Mixon back in March. Zimmer has a history of bringing troubled players into his fold and getting the most out of them, especially during his time in Cincinnati (Adam ‘Pac-Man’ Jones comes to mind, who had a pretty significant slip up this off-season). So, sure, the level of talent that Mixon apparently has, and the Vikings need for a player like that, is part of it. But, if a player meets Zimmer’s standards then I’d have to say that it’s good enough for me.