Missouri linebacker Sean Weatherspoon is projected by many to be a first-round pick. The Saints, who are perched at the bottom of the round, are believed to be very interested in the guy who can play both on the inside and on the outside.
As Ian Rapoport of the Boston Herald points out, there also are concerns. Nolan Nawrocki of Pro Football Weekly (the successor to the late Joel Buchsbaum, whose excellent posthumous profile is making the rounds on Twitter today) tells Rapoport that some teams fear that Weatherspoon’s personality could be a problem.
"[H]e never shuts his mouth,” Nawrocki says. “It’s s big concern to a lot of teams that have stepped in and even removed him from their draft boards. That’s how strongly they feel he could negatively impact the locker room. . . .
“The big concern is just how he’s a little bit like [Chad] Ochocinco in Cincinnati,” Nawrocki told Rapoport. “It’s going to become a big distraction, and it’s going to get in the way, it’s going to be difficult to coach. He’s never played a snap in the NFL and hasn’t done a thing in the National Football League, and he’s already worrying about the things that really shouldn’t matter for a guy at that stage in his career. He’s worrying about his image and his post-career aspirations. That’s a concern. You see guys late in their career like Jason Taylor getting involved in Dancing With The Stars, and there were coaches that didn’t like that. For some of the same reasons, I think it’s an issue with Sean. He’s worrying about things he shouldn’t be worrying about. He’s trying to be something that he may not be. From that respect, there are concerns.”
Of course, Weatherspoon may quit talking once he’s humbled by a group of veteran players. Then again, if he has any success and when becomes a veteran player, the talking could re-emerge. But if he’s a good player, teams will find a way to tolerate that -- just as they have with the likes of Ochocinco, Joey Porter, and any other player who loves him some him.