2017 NFL Draft: Can Joe Mixon’s draft visits alleviate teams’ fears?
By Luke Sims
Joe Mixon is going to have to impress in his draft interviews in the build up to the 2017 NFL Draft.
To say that Joe Mixon has his work cut out for him would be an understatement. The talented running back out of Oklahoma is struggling to overcome the troubling incident when he was first entering college in which he struck a woman in the face on camera and then fled the scene.
Some teams have immediately written Mixon off, despite his talent. Others, including a slew of teams ready to make the jump to contenders, have not. Mixon’s talent is apparently enough to outweigh that one troubling incident.
This is most evident by his slew of pre-draft visits with teams. It’s something highlighted by Pro Football Talk in tracking his 15 pre-draft visits. With only 32 teams in the NFL, almost half of them appear willing to at least hear Mixon out.
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And that is part of the process in finding the next great running back and could work in his favor. Pro Football Talk’s Michael Ghelkin noted this, citing Mixon’s agent, Peter Schaffer. Scheffer has noted that Mixon has been able to have more in-depth conversations with teams through the pre-draft visit process. He has been able to explain himself better, getting to dive deeper with the teams that may take a chance on him.
The real question is whether it will work. With at least some personnel men more concerned about Dalvin Cook’s consistent, minor indiscretions over Mixon’s one, big one, it will be interesting to see if Mixon can talk his way onto an NFL roster. He will, at a minimum, put his best foot forward.
Thus far, it may seem like the right strategy. By taking the time in the pre-draft interview process, Mixon could end up being drafted at a relatively appropriate position compared to his physical value. Whether that is worth it remains to be seen.