NFL Draft 2017: Say It’s So, Joe; Cincinnati Bengals Pick Joe Mixon with 48th Pick
By Chip Rouse
The Cincinnati Bengals did what other NFL teams were reluctant to do, take a chance on a highly talented player who was worthy of a first-round NFL Draft pick were it not for a troubling off-the field issue nearly three years ago.
Oklahoma running back Joe Mixon is the first Sooner to be selected in the 2017 NFL Draft, selected with the 48th overall pick in the second round by the Cincinnati Bengals.
Most NFL Draft experts had acknowledged that, all things considered, Mixon was probably a top-15 talent based on what he has done on the football field. They also are quick to note, however, the obvious elephant that has been in most NFL draft rooms in recent months and has created a giant cloud of uncertainty over his draft value.
NFL teams, mirroring the growing societal outrage toward sexual and physical assault against women, have taken a stance of almost zero intolerance against players either charged with or accused of such acts.
In August of 2014, Mixon was arrested after slugging a female student in the face in an altercation outside a popular café near the OU campus. The Sooners’ top recruit in the 2014 incoming football recruiting class was suspended for all of the 2014 season and ordered to perform 100 hours of community service and undergo counseling, which he successfully completed without incident.
A video showing the graphic detail of what occurred in the August 2014 incident was not made public until last December, which re-ignited the public anger and disgust toward Mixon and brought into question how the Oklahoma administration and football program handled the situation.
The timing of the public release of the video couldn’t have been worse for the Sooners’ star running back. Shortly after Oklahoma’s Sugar Bowl win over Auburn in early January and after his redshirt sophomore season,, Mixon declared for the NFL Draft. From that day forward all the way up to Friday night,, there has been great uncertainty about where, or even if, Mixon would be selected in the draft.
The answer came around 9 p.m. Central time on Friday, when a representative of the Cincinnati Bengals came to the podium to announce the selection of Mixon with the 16th pick in the second round and the 48th overall pick in the 2017 NFL Draft.
“Obviously this is a pick that opens everybody’s eyes,” said Bengals’ head coach Marvin Lewis. “We’ve done such a lot of work regarding Joe Mixon throughout the entire process this year.
“Based on all the time, all the research, we felt that we can continue to move forward. We’ve done all of our due diligence we can do, time spent interviewing people, everybody around him, everybody around his background, people that have coached at Oklahoma for insight regarding him and how he has carried himself since that day.”
The Bengals were one of only a handful of NFL teams that were even considering drafting Mixon, according to a report by ESPN NFL insider Adam Schefter. Twenty-eight of the 32 teams told Shefter in an anonymous survey that Mixon either wasn’t on their draft board or that they were not willing to consider drafting the OU running back.
So Oklahoma is finally on the board in the 2017 NFL Draft. Now that the gates are open, we can expect several more Sooner names to follow in Saturday’s final four rounds.