NFL Won't Invite Top Prospect To Combine Because Of A Fight At McDonalds 4 Years Ago

Jaylen Ferguson is one of the best small school prospects in the 2019 NFL Draft. While at Louisiana Tech, Ferguson set the NCAA for most career sacks by a defender, breaking Terrelle Suggs previous record. Throughout the many mock drafts/draft boards I have read (guilty pleasure), Ferguson is in the 20-32 range. That’s why it’s surprising that he wasn’t invited to the NFL combine.

Turns out the reason why he won’t be in Indy is that the NFL can’t get out of its own way:

SOURCE-The NFL has rescinded Louisiana Tech DE Jaylon Ferguson‘s invitation to the combine after a background check turned up an old battery conviction.

Ferguson was convicted of simple battery his freshman year after a fight at McDonald’s resulted in a deferred judgment and a $189 fine, according to his agent, Safarrah Lawson.

Okay, I get it, you don’t want to invite players with a less than stellar past to the Combine (cough, cough Jeffery Simmons), but let’s use logic here.

“We disagree with the NFL’s position with regards to Jaylon Ferguson,” said Lawson via statement. “Jaylon is a great person who made a mistake 4 years ago before he started playing college football. He was involved in a scuffle that resulted in him being charged with misdemeanor simple battery. He received a deferred judgment and $189.00 fine, a proper punishment for a fight between two teenagers. Since that day Jaylon has been a fine and upstanding student athlete that personifies the things we are trying to teach our young people today. The past four years at Louisiana Tech Jaylon has been a team leader who has led on and off the field clearly learning from the lessons of his past.”

Sounds to me like Jaylon Ferguson got into a little fight at a McDonalds when he was an 18-year-old Freshman. It wasn’t that bad and he ended up paying a $189 fine. Shit happens when you are 18, especially when you are surrounded by a group of other 18-year-old boys. As they say, boys will be boys (shhhh….don’t tell Gilette I said that).

Also, who hasn’t gotten into a fight at a McDonalds? Give the guy a break. He has had a clean record since and now you are preventing him from the biggest job interview of his life? Sound about Goodell.