Georgia defensive end Justin Houston and Iowa defensive tackle Christian Ballard both failed drug tests for marijuana at the NFL Scouting Combine according to Alex Marvez and Jay Glazer of FOX.
The information comes as news to us, but it’s possible teams have been aware of the result for a while now. Houston has been talked about as a potential late first-round draft pick, but the failure will be a red flag for teams that already questioned his snap-to-snap energy.
Ballard was projected as high as a second round pick by some draft analysts.
Plenty of players have been caught for smoking weed before and they still were drafted highly. Coaches know that a large segment of every team smokes, making the drug test at the Combine an intelligence test more than anything.
Houston and Ballard apparently failed that intelligence test. We don’t think it will completely ruin their stock on draft day, but it certainly won’t help.