For most people, water is nothing but a good thing, especially this time of year. It's a tool for re-hydration after a long run in the sun or a long night on a barstool. It's a cool refresher, whether you're jumping into a pool or getting soaked from a watergun or balloon. With the thermometer reaching the 80s -- I'm not complaining, mind you -- it's difficult to see anyone getting hurt by water this time of year.
Then again, Charles Rogers isn't just anyone. He's a stud receiver hoping to go within the first few picks of the upcoming NFL draft. That's why water is so important to him. Specifically, too much water. Rogers' NFL-mandated drug test was flagged by the league after his, uh, sample came up with excessive water, which Paul Tagliabue and his cohorts view as a masking agent in urine that could cover up other substances that the league frowns upon.
Rogers swears that the test is not a source of controversy and says that he is moving forward and looking ahead to the draft.
The Detroit Lions and Houston Texans also are looking forward to the draft and looking a little harder at Rogers after this latest bit of news. While Rogers had a clean record during his college career, he did play at Michigan State, which this year became a tainted program if there ever was one. Look no further than the substance abuse problems by quarterback Jeff, uh, Smoker for that. I'm not one to judge a person based on the actions of those around him, but rest assured that the Lions and Texans are investigating every angle of Rogers' drug test.
Personally, my uninformed opinion is that Rogers won't go past the Lions, who pick second. New coach Steve Mariucci will look first at promising quarterback Joey Harrington, then at the crew of complementary receivers that Harrington has to throw to. Bill Schroeder, Az-Zahir Hakim, Scotty Anderson -- they're all decent players, and I'm sure they're nice people, but none of them exactly strikes fear in a defense. A Harrington-Rogers pairing could stretch the field and key the Detroit offense for the next 10 years. The fact that Rogers is a Michigan native won't hurt his appeal to fans, either. Rogers should hope that the Lions take him, however, because Texans coach Dom Capers isn't the kind of guy that looks kindly upon substance abuse violations.
Of course, the Rogers situation is only the second-biggest question of the early rounds of the draft. The biggest? What will new Cincinnati Bengals coach Marvin Lewis do with the top pick? That question already has been partially answered -- Lewis wants a quarterback. But which one? There are several options at his disposal, top among them Southern California's Carson Palmer and Marshall's Byron Leftwich. With a team like the Bengals, it might not be a bad idea to trade down and take a player like California's Kyle Boller or Florida's Rex Grossman, but Lewis seems intent on picking his signal-caller with the top pick. Most scouting services rate Heisman Trophy winner Palmer slightly above Leftwich, but both players have their strong and weak points. Neither one is a threat on the ground, but both have cannon arms. Palmer struggled with hype early in his college career, but then came through once most experts had written him off. How he will react to the pressure that goes with being a top pick is anybody's guess, but he seems to have matured as a player. Leftwich showed as much heart as I've seen from a college player in years when he played on a badly injured leg in the MAC championship game. Most fans will remember the image of Leftwich being carried downfield by his offensive linemen between plays, and most NFL general managers probably haven't forgotten either. But the injury is a concern for Leftwich, who did not look particularly impressive in his workout with NFL scouts last week.
No matter whom Lewis chooses with the top pick, he would be wise to follow the quarterback grooming of our own Al Groh and his successor in New York, Herman Edwards. Both coaches resisted the pressure to throw Chad Pennington -- incidentally, Leftwich's predecessor at Marshall -- into the fire too soon, and it paid off this season, with a mature Pennington developing into a top-shelf quarterback. Quarterbacks who can step in and lead a team immediately are few and far between, especially when you consider the caliber of teams that Palmer and Leftwich will be joining. Most quarterbacks are more Chad Pennington than Peyton Manning, and Lewis needs to remember that this season and bring his rookie along slowly. Otherwise, he could have a Ryan Leaf on his hands.
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