Which Team is Angling for Keenan Allen With Yesterday's "Drug Test" Leak to Adam Schefter?
By Jason Lisk
Adam Schefter wrote earlier this week about California wide receiver Keenan Allen being “red-flagged” for a drug test at the Combine, something that was denied by Allen’s agent. Pro Football Talk talked to the agent, J.T. Johnson, who says that his client has received no notifications of a failed drug test. Jeff Foster of National Football Scouting, Inc. says “I can tell you we — the combine — did not order a retest of the drug tests for anybody, and we did not conduct any drug testing at the rechecks.”
This one has all the earmarks of a planted story with a purpose as we head into draft week, and the question is who is doing the planting. If you are going to go this route, no better way to go than to get Adam Schefter to talk about it. In the court of public opinion, Allen and drug test are now synonymous heading into draft week.
Keenan Allen, depending on who you look at, is projected anywhere from late first to second round in the upcoming draft, even with the slow 40 time that is partially explained by return from injury. There just so happens to be a boatload of teams that could have interest in wide receivers starting with St. Louis at #22 and the Minnesota Vikings at #23 through the early part of the second round. The Houston Texans have a need at the receiver position, New England just tried to sign restricted free agent Emmanuel Sanders from Pittsburgh unsuccessfully, and this post is now hopeful that Allen can fall to San Francisco at pick 31.
Allen’s test may have been “red flagged” initially (or maybe not), but the timing of this, and the statements about no retest, means that the far more likely explanation, rather than Allen’s draft stock taking a dive, is that somebody is angling to get him to fall far enough that they can snag him among several other teams that may be interested in adding a wide receiver. The timing of the Steelers matching the Patriots’ offer sheet on Emmanuel Sanders less than 48 hours before this news came from Schefter sure has me curious, though.
[photo via USA Today Sports Images]