NFL Draft: Bengals select Joe Mixon in second roundby Brooke Pryor Published: April 28, 2017 9:21 PM CDT
Former Oklahoma running back Joe Mixon was taken by the Cincinnati Bengals with the No. 48 pick overall in
the NFL Draft on Friday night. [PHOTO BY BRYAN TERRY, THE OKLAHOMAN]NORMAN — Joe Mixon, a player with first-round talent and potentially
undraftable character concerns, was taken by the Cincinnati Bengals
in the second round with the No. 46 overall pick Friday night.
In the months ahead of the NFL Draft, the Bengals did their homework
on Mixon, and coach Marvin Lewis believes his new player is capable
of moving forward from the 2014 incident that left a female OU
student crumpled on the floor of Pickleman's Cafe.
“I don't know who isn't disgusted with what they saw,” Lewis said
after the Bengals selected Mixon. “But it was one day in the young
man's life. He has a chance to move forward and write a script from
there on.”
Mixon, the fourth running back off the board in 2017, is the first
Sooners running back picked in the draft since DeMarco Murray in
2011, and the earliest Sooner running back selected since Adrian
Peterson was taken with the seventh pick of the 2007 draft.
Though Mixon has first-round talent, there was plenty of speculation
about where he would go in the draft after his lawyers in December
released the video of the 2014 punch, a video that ESPN aired
immediately after Mixon was selected.
According to an anonymous survey conducted by ESPN NFL guru Adam
Schefter, only four teams said they would consider drafting Mixon.
Mixon was not invited to the NFL Combine — a result of the incident
that happened before his freshman season — but his performance both
at OU's Pro Day last month and during individual workouts and
interviews helped make an impact.
Mixon said he was open and honest with teams during the interview
process.
“I don't have anything to hide,” Mixon said after Pro Day. “Everybody
done seen everything. Everybody knows what's going on. At the end of
the day, just sitting down in front of them, looking them in the eye,
have them get a feel for me.
“That's just what it is.”
It wasn't just the 2014 incident that led to questions about his
character.
Mixon was suspended for last season's game at Iowa State after a run-
in with a parking attendant.
But there have been few questions about Mixon's talent.
After sitting out the 2014 season due to suspension, Mixon ran for
2,027 yards and 17 touchdowns and caught 65 passes for 894 yards and
nine touchdowns over the past two seasons.
Last season, Mixon set OU single-season records for all-purpose yards
(2,331) and all-purpose yards per game (194.3).
Cincinnati's history with players' off-the-field baggage combined with
the small market could be a good fit for Mixon.
“Cincinnati has had a history of Marvin Lewis and his guys, opening
their arms up and saying, ‘We can handle those guys, we have the
right infrastructure,'" NFL Network analyst Mike Mayock said on the
network broadcast. "Me personally, he's not on my board. As soon as I
see that video, he's off.
“But if you want to hear about the football player, the football
player is a top-15 pick in any draft. He's 228 pounds and ran a 4.5
at his pro day. He can return kickoffs. He had six runs of over 40
yards, and he split time with Samaje Perine. What I'm trying to say,
he's pretty darn special as a football player.”