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Whispers damage Guice’s stock
Published 6:03 pm Sunday, April 29, 2018
<p class="indent">Former LSU running back Derrius Guice will end up with an NFL contract worth roughly $4.5 million, including a signing bonus of well over a million.</p><p class="indent">So it’s hard to feel too sorry for him.</p><p class="indent">Still, it’s curious.</p><p class="indent">What in the world did Guice do to tick off the NFL?</p><p class="indent">Based on NFL-ready talent, that first paycheck should be a lot more.</p><p class="indent">Guice entered last season projected as a top-10 draft pick, traveled to JerryWorld for the festivities in the Dallas area still thinking he might go in the first round and … and he waited. And waited. And, well, waited some more … all the way through the first round without a nibble.</p><p class="indent">He finally left and didn’t return to the famed “green room” for the second day, when 26 more picks would go by before the Washington Redskins made Guice the draft’s 59th overall pick.</p><p class="indent">OK, things happen. It’s a matter of need for the teams drafting. If it was a year in which running backs weren’t a high priority, OK. Bad timing.</p><p class="indent">But how do you explain seven running backs going before Guice, who on talent and production was clearly the second-best available behind Penn State’s Saquon Barkley, the No. 2 overall pick?</p><p class="indent">Surely nothing Guice did on the field would scare off anybody.</p><p class="indent">Having watched both extensively, I didn’t see much difference between Guice and Leonard Fournette, the No. 4 overall pick in last year’s draft. Guice ran harder — angrier, might be a better description — than any back I’ve ever seen.</p><p class="indent">The only explanation was “character issue,” the dreaded “off-thefield concerns.”</p><p class="indent">Funny, nothing like that ever surfaced while he was at LSU beyond a few whispers here and there.</p><p class="indent">And that’s kind of what sabotaged in Guice in the days leading up to the draft.</p><p class="indent">In other words, Guice was done in by rumor, innuendo and that pesky suspicion of spending too much time playing video games.</p><p class="indent">All of it vague and unconfirmed.</p><p class="indent">Meanwhile, do a simple You-Tube search and you can find pretty clear video of this draft’s No. 1 overall pick, Oklahoma quarterback Baker Mayfield, fleeing four police officers before being tackled and arrested in Fayetteville, Arkansas (lacks escapability, the draft analysts might say).</p><p class="indent">So what’s the deal with Guice? What on earth could he have done?</p><p class="indent">“It did surprise me because a lot of the things came out of nowhere and weren’t true,” Guice said on a teleconference with Washington media after being drafted. “I just didn’t understand why me out of all people. I’m great to everybody. I have a great personality and I just didn’t understand why everything just hit so hard with me out of everybody.”</p><p class="indent">Actually, Guice seemed to be handling his draft tumble pretty well. That’s kind of the way he is.</p><p class="indent">It will probably work out fine for him. Washington is a team desperate for a running game.</p><p class="indent">Redskins’ coach Jay Gruden described Guice as a “character.”</p><p class="indent">And, for sure, Guice is all of that. If you’re looking for a shrinking violet who’ll keep his mouth shut, he’s probably not for you.</p><p class="indent">Disclaimer: We in the media cover these guys, talk to them, but we don’t really know them. We generally see them in formal interviews on their best behavior, when they’re mindful of the image they’re putting out there.</p><p class="indent">I do know Guice is not shy. And he doesn’t lack for confidence. I also know he charmed the socks off SEC Media Days last July. He was probably the big hit of the four days among the players on hand.</p><p class="indent">He came off as the kind of guy you wouldn’t mind being the face of your franchise.</p><p class="indent">Yet, leading up the draft, the picture wasn’t so rosy.</p><p class="indent">Ian Rapport of NFLNetwork.com tweeted that “Sources describe him as immature, high-maintenance. His visits (with teams) did not go well.”</p><p class="indent">Also …</p><p class="indent">“Some incidents in college (that) teams found out about that were not reported.”</p><p class="indent">They certainly weren’t.</p><p class="indent">Nothing.</p><p class="indent">Guice famously said after the combine that one of the nutty questions he was asked there was whether his mother — who raised him alone after his father was murdered when he was 6 years old — was a prostitute.</p><p class="indent">The NFL felt concerned enough to do their own investigation, and later said it could find no evidence the offending question was ever asked by anybody. Or any team that would own up to it, at least.</p><p class="indent">Who knows where the truth is?</p><p class="indent">Guice wouldn’t be the first headstrong, talkative kid who got to liking the sound of his own voice and maybe embellished a tad.</p><p class="indent">Still, it’s not a felony.</p><p class="indent">The most damning rumor was Guice’s trip to Philadelphia, where, according to the wildest version, he supposedly he got into an argument with Eagles General Manager Howie Roseman and assistant coach Duce Staley.</p><p class="indent">Guice denied it. Roseman denied it in a tweet.</p><p class="indent">But a lot of teams with a need for his speciality passed on him.</p><p class="indent">Guice has always run like he was mad as hell.</p><p class="indent">He should have no problem on that front. On the field, he should have no problem proving teams wrong.</p><p class="indent">But if really wants to have at least six teams kicking themselves in the butt, he’ll keep his nose clean as well.</p>
<strong>Scooter Hobbs</strong> covers LSU athletics. Email him at <span class="text_link link_wrap type_eml" data-link-target="shobbs@americanpress.com" data-link-type="EML">shobbs@americanpress.com</span>