Plenty of us have done stupid things in High School. Things that we look back on and say, “I was young and dumb” for doing that. Most of those actions, however, didn’t cost us millions. That’s potentially the fallout for NFL Draft prospect Josh Allen after the offensive, racially insensitive, tweets, written by Allen when he was in high school surfaced late on the eve of the 2018 NFL Draft. Reports by ESPN were used for all the information presented in this article.

Allen took ownership of the tweets and issued an apology, saying that he was “young and dumb” when those tweets – which have since been deleted – were posted to his account.

Now the question is, how will this news affect his draft position heading into the annual first-year player draft taking place in Dallas?

Allen has been linked by some prognosticators to the Cleveland Browns, who own the top pick in this year’s draft. Browns general manager John Dorsey said on the eve of the draft his team was in alignment with who it wanted to take with the top pick. By all indications, that pick will be a quarterback and many NFL insiders believe that quarterback will be either Allen or USC’s Sam Darnold.

Plenty of talent at QB in 2018 draft

This year’s draft is loaded with potential prospects at the quarterback position and there are more than a handful of teams that will be in the market for a quarterback.

Allen joins a group that includes Darnold, UCLA’s Josh Rosen, Oklahoma’s Baker Mayfield, and Louisville’s Lamar Jackson as quarterbacks that expect to hear their names called on the first day of the 2018 draft. Along with Cleveland, the Jets, Dolphins, Bills, Cardinals – and possibly the Patriots – are all expected to be in the market for a new signal caller in this year’s draft.

NFL teams are known for doing their due diligence, especially before taking a quarterback that could be the face of a franchise. This stone was apparently left unturned by teams interested in Allen, either that or it wasn’t a big enough red flag to deter their opinion on Allen. For the team that might be on the fence about which quarterback it wants to take with its first pick, this news could be a deciding factor.

Problems for Mayfield and Allen

Allen isn’t the only quarterback to have a red flag thrown on him for past mistakes. Mayfield has had to answer plenty of questions from the media – and presumably from NFL teams – about his antics on and off the field. Mayfield was stripped of his captaincy as a senior at Oklahoma for some of his on-field actions. Those actions followed an offseason in which he was arrested for disorderly conduct, public intoxication, fleeing, and resisting arrest for an incident that occurred in Fayetteville, Ark. Mayfield has had more than four months to answer those questions. A luxury that Allen will not have.

The biggest fallout for Allen may come in the form of tension in his future locker room.

More than 75 percent of NFL players are African-American. Allen could also cost himself sponsorship opportunities and hurt his standings in his new community. In years to come, this news will likely be just a small footnote to the 2018 NFL Draft. For now, it has legs, and a day that promises to be one of the longest of his life, just got a little longer for Allen.
© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED