The Ravens took Ole Miss OT Laremy Tunsil "off the board" when a video of him wearing a gas mask and appearing to smoke marijuana from a bong appeared on his Twitter feed minutes before the start of the Draft, according to NFL Network's Rhett Lewis. The team ended up using their No. 6 overall pick on Notre Dame OT Ronnie Stanley. NFL Network's Ian Rapoport reported the Ravens were "not the only team" to drop Tunsil, as the video "clearly changed some teams' evaluation of him." The Dolphins drafted Tunsil with the No. 13 pick ("2016 NFL Draft,” NFL Network, 4/28). Ravens GM Ozzie Newsome said that the team "had Stanley ranked above Tunsil." However, Newsome acknowledged the Twitter video may have played a role in the team passing on Tunsil, saying, "That's always a part any time you get information" (ESPN.com, 4/29). ESPN's Adam Schefter reported the Ravens had Stanley "on equal footing" with Tunsil, and there is the possibility the team "could have taken him ahead of Tunsil" even without the Twitter video. Schefter: "If ever there were a tiebreaker, this certainly (could) be considered" ("2016 NFL Draft," ESPN, 4/28). SI's Greg Bedard cites three NFL scouts as saying that Tunsil's "social media issues 'definitely' contributed" to him falling to the 13th pick. While there were "pre-draft concerns" about Tunsil, the "late release of the video tipped the scales for many teams" (SI.com, 4/29). However, in N.Y., Manish Mehta reports the Jets "tried to trade up" to pick Tunsil during his slide down the Draft, though the "asking price proved to be too steep" (NYDAILYNEWS.com, 4/29).
PUBLIC PERCEPTION: ESPN's Mark Dominik, who served as Buccaneers GM from '09-13, said the video would carry a "heavy impact" on teams looking to draft Tunsil. Dominik said, "When you see the images, you sit there and think, 'How am I going to handle this from a public relations standpoint? I'm going to draft this player and I'm going to walk out in front of my fan base and I have to go down to the owner, by the way, and talk to him like this is the guy that we think is best for our franchise.' Very difficult in that capacity that you have to sit there and plan it, but you have to own it as a front office" ("SportsCenter," ESPN, 4/29).
