NFL teams will regret passing on Reuben Foster

In last weekend’s NFL Draft, Reuben Foster was selected 31st overall by the San Francisco 49ers, significantly lower than the Alabama linebacker was projected.

In 2016, Foster was named as a first team All-American and won the Dick Butkus award for the nation’s most outstanding linebacker. He was second in the SEC with 115 tackles, and also made 13 tackles for loss and five sacks as the captain of the Crimson Tide defense.

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But it wasn’t the best offseason for Foster.

After being sent home from the NFL combine in March for reportedly getting into a “heated confrontation” with a hospital worker, things got worse. A week before the draft, it was then reported that Foster had a diluted urine sample at the combine. It should be noted that having a diluted sample is not the same thing as a positive test, but the NFL still treats it as such.

The NFL basically views the drug test at the NFL Combine as an intelligence test, because guys know months in advance that they’re going to be tested.

But why do so many teams let this change their mind on someone they know can play the game at a high level? (no pun intended)

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Foster is only the latest player to lose the offseason. But should we forget about what this guy can do on the field? He’s listed a 6-feet, 229 lbs. and flies from sideline-to-sideline, and he delivers the boom when he gets there. Just ask Chad Kelly and Deshaun Watson, among many others.

Off the top of my head comes Tyrann Mathieu, Justin Houston, and Janoris Jenkins. They were all players who everyone knew were first round talents, but dropped in the draft because of failed drug tests.

Houston was drafted 70th overall in 2011, while Jenkins was drafted 39th overall in 2012, and Mathieu was drafted 69th overall in 2013. Each of those three has been a Pro Bowler in the NFL, and every team in the league could’ve had them.

While Foster was still drafted in the first round, he was projected to be a top 10 pick, then slid all the way to 31.

If someone has been accused or convicted of a violent crime, then I can understand a team not wanting to take a chance on them (see Randy Gregory and Greg Hardy).

But for guys who are merely smoking marijuana? It’s about time that NFL teams take a step back and remember what they’re there to do, which is win football games. And Reuben Foster is going to help the 49ers win a lot of football games for the next decade.

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