Lying Game

When it comes to the NFL and it's annual selection of college football players you just can't trust anyone. Especially this time of year. Everybody seems to be shooting straight from the College All-Star games through the Scouting Combine. Once the teams set their initial draft boards not a lot of truth is uttered until the NFL Draft. Through the start of free agency and especially the annual Owner's Meetings it's all lies. That's about two months of lies. The lies become a game. The teams that are uncomfortable with all this lying usually say nothing at all.

There were rumors that the Minnesota Vikings started spreading some lies about Oklahoma runningback Adrian Peterson just days before the 2007 NFL Draft. Peterson had broken his collarbone during his final college season. He injured the not-quite healed bone in the Fiesta Bowl. He checked out and performed at the Scouting Combine. Everything seemed fine with Adrian Peterson. The day before the draft rumors started flying that the collarbone wasn't healed. Further procedures might be needed to set the collarbone. The start of his rookie year could be shaky. Some teams apparently got nervous because a top-3 talent fell to Minnesota at #7. Peterson didn't fall far but he fell to the team that might have started it all. They selected the super back with little concern. All this is a rumor but someone did start a story that simply wasn't true and only one team ended up with Adrian Peterson.

Usually, teams lie about players that interest them. Absent that, teams say nothing about players that interest them. Whichever route, there's always deceit. This year the Indianapolis Colts and now the Washington Redskins have made it clear that quarterbacks are the choice at the top of the draft. Andrew Luck and Robert Griffin III, in that order. Maybe not. That leaves the Vikings at #3 with a shot at the best non-quarterback in the draft. One day they like USC tackle Matt Kalil. The next it's LSU cornerback Morris Claiborne. Maybe one day it's Justin Blackmon. Then they have the pick up for the highest bidder. I still say that the choice is Kalil. The Vikings will never say that before the draft. Lies are the game until that day.