Baker Mayfield figures to be one of the bigger draws at this year’s NFL Combine, at least now that he’s able to go.
While there was some concern as to whether he’d be allowed to attend based on the NFL’s rule which excluded players based on off-field misconduct, the league made it clear this week that the Oklahoma quarterback was welcome.
Via Peter Dawson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, the league said this week there was “no issue that would preclude him from attending.”
The Heisman Trophy winner was arrested last February in Arkansas, and charged with public intoxication, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest after an incident which he described as trying to break up an argument. Officers said he “was yelling profanities and causing a scene.”
In June, he reached a plea deal in which the resisting arrest charge was dropped in exchange to guilty pleas on the others. He did not serve any jail time, but was fined hundreds of dollars.
The league created the rule preventing lawbreakers from the combine in 2016, and it has been most notably applied to Mayfield’s former teammate Joe Mixon, who was caught on tape punching a woman in the face. Mixon did not attend the combine, but was drafted by the Bengals in the second round. He had an unremarkable rookie year, finishing with 626 rushing yards in 14 games.