Defensive lineman Robert Nkemdiche spent a lot of time talking to teams about a December incident that saw him fall out of a hotel window in Atlanta and get charged with marijuana possession, although he said this week that he was drunk and got arrested because no one else in the hotel room was willing to “take the fall” for the marijuana.
That incident and Nkemdiche’s admission that he was “lazy at times” while at Ole Miss will likely hurt his draft stock. How much it will hurt that stock will come down to how much teams are willing to bet on his ability making him worth the risk.
On Sunday at the Scouting Combine in Indianapolis, Nkemdiche showed off some of that ability. The 6'6", 294-pounder ran a 4.87 40-yard dash and showed off a 35-inch vertical leap to offer a reminder of the mixture of size and speed that made him a top prospect in the first place.
Those traits weren’t in doubt coming into the Combine and they’ll have to serve as the counterpoint to the question marks surrounding Nkemdiche if he’s going to go at the front end of the draft this year.