BEREA, Ohio – Cleveland Browns rookie wide receiver Antonio Callaway said his positive drug test at this year’s scouting combine was the result of a dilute sample and that he’s taking steps to put his troubled past behind him.
“I had a diluted sample,” Callaway, the Browns’ fourth-round pick in last week’s NFL draft, said between workouts at the team’s rookie minicamp Saturday. “I didn’t intentionally do it, but I take responsibility for my test. That was a wake-up call, but like I’ve said, day by day I’m still getting better as a person, as a player, as a man, as a father. I’ve got a daughter. She’s going to be 3 months old next week.”
Browns wide receiver Antonio Callaway runs a drill during rookie minicamp. Ken Blaze/USA TODAY Sports
Callaway was seen by many as a talented enough player to be drafted in the early rounds, but he fell to the fourth because of significant off-field concerns. He was suspended from the Florida Gators football team for all of 2017 for allegedly using stolen credit card information to fund bookstore accounts. He was cited after a traffic stop in May 2017 for misdemeanor marijuana possession and possession of drug equipment. And he was cleared of sexual assault allegations by a Title IX hearing officer in August 2016 after his accuser and her witnesses boycotted the hearing because the hearing officer was a Gators football booster.
“I was young, that’s all. Immature,” Callaway said of his list of transgressions. “I was just living in the moment. I knew I had to grow and learn from my mistakes. When I got suspended, I didn’t think it would cost me the NFL. I just knew that it would hurt. Because I know my talent. I’m pretty good at football.”
“Basically, he’s just been mentoring me, telling me I’ve got too much talent to let it go to waste,” Callaway said of Brown. “Where we’re from in Miami, Florida, a lot of people barely make it out. I’m one of the few to.”
Callaway said he and his four younger sisters were raised by their mother in a very tough part of Miami.
“It’s hard, where I’m from. It’s hard. The worst of the worst,” Callaway said. “Killings, drugs, you name it, I’ve seen it, and at a young age. Growing up, I said I didn’t want that life, so I just stuck with football.”
RENTON, Wash. — Shaquem Griffin said he has no problem with all the attention he has received as perhaps the biggest story of the 2018 NFL draft. But after what he described as a “whirlwind” period of media interviews and an unforgettable experience on draft day, he’s turning his focus squarely to football.
“Now that’s over with and it’s time for us to get to work and make sure I give high competition,” he said, “make sure I give the coaches a chance to see who I am and make sure I can do my best to make sure I can make my players better and help anybody I can.”
The first step toward that goal came Friday, when Griffin joined the Seattle Seahawks’ other eight draft picks, 15 undrafted free agents and dozens of other players for the start of the team’s three-day rookie minicamp. It was Griffin’s first practice with the Seahawks since they chose him in the fifth round, making him the first player in the NFL’s modern era with one hand to be drafted and reuniting him with his twin brother, Seahawks cornerback Shaquill Griffin, in the process.
“Quem looked very aggressive,” coach Pete Carroll said of Friday’s practice. “We had to slow him down in some stuff early in the practice. In the walk-throughs, he was going too hard so we had to chill him out a little bit. But he’s very excited about being here. He’s a very, very good-looking prospect. He’s big and fast and he had a good feel for what’s going on. Obviously, [Shaquill] had done a little bit of tutoring. He was ahead of us a little bit, which was good.”
The Seahawks selected Shaquem Griffin in the fifth round, making him the first player in the NFL’s modern era with one hand to be drafted. AP Photo/Ted S. Warren
The speed that the Seahawks had to temper Friday was part of what drew them to Griffin, who was clocked at 4.38 seconds in the 40-yard dash at the scouting combine — the fastest time by a linebacker in more than a decade. The Seahawks are putting him at the weak-side linebacker spot, where they feel his speed and relatively smaller frame are best suited. For now, he’s projected to back up former Pro Bowler K.J. Wright and compete for a part-time role on defense in addition to playing on special teams.
Griffin, listed at 227 pounds, said he has added a few pounds since the scouting combine and plans to meet with the team’s strength and conditioning coaches this weekend to make sure he knows what weight they want him playing at.
“I feel pretty comfortable there,” he said of the weak-side spot. “When I was at UCF, I played a lot of different positions, so I don’t feel uncomfortable moving around. I feel like where they put me at right now is a pretty good fit. It doesn’t matter where I play at — as long as I get an opportunity to help better my team in any aspect, I’ll play anything.”
Griffin isn’t taking anything for granted. When asked what it’s like to be done with the “auditioning” of the pre-draft process, he offered a correction.
The Griffin twins have enjoyed becoming friends with Hulk Hogan, who coincidentally knew their dad back when he towed the wrestler’s cars to be fixed.
“Well, everyone here is still auditioning, so I wouldn’t say the auditioning part is over,” he said. “Everybody’s out here fighting to get a spot, fighting to get on the 53-man roster. That’s what I don’t want nobody to get beside of because no spots are a given out there. You’ve got to work your butt off. This is a great team and you’re going to learn from great leaders and great players, and the only thing you have to do is keep working your butt off and eventually you’re going to get to where you want to go.”
Griffin’s quest to reach the NFL has become a wildly popular story. He told ESPN last month that his mother was getting stopped in public for picture requests. The family even fielded interview requests from China and Italy.
“Just deal with it and then keep moving forward,” Shaquem said of all the attention he has received. “It’s nothing really for me to be able to say it’s overwhelming or anything. It’s just, you do the interviews, you interact with everybody and you make sure that, at the end of the day, you focus on why you’re here and that’s to play football and make sure I can contribute as a teammate.”
Carroll called it “extremely important” for Griffin to shift his focus to football.
“It’s been a great story. It will always be a great story, but right now he’s got work to do and he’s got focus that he’s got to generate,” Carroll said. “There’s a lot of people tugging on him for all of the right reasons and all that, but I know he’s very determined and we are to help him in his pursuit of making the club and making the spot and all of that.
“He’s like everybody else. He’s got to compete like everybody. He’s going to do it. He’s going to bring it. But it’s important, and the fact that he’s talking to you guys about it, he understands and he’s gotten the message and he’s very clear about it. So we appreciate [the media] giving him a chance for everybody that’s working. It’s just such a wonderful story — he’s a wonderful kid and all that. I get it. But right now, it’s ball.”
SEATTLE — The chances of the Seattle Seahawks trading Earl Thomas diminished considerably over the weekend when he remained with the team through the second day of the NFL draft.
Another indication a trade isn’t likely came Thursday, when general manager John Schneider said in an interview with Seattle’s Sports Radio 950 KRJ that the team isn’t trying to move its All-Pro free safety. Specifically, he was asked if the Seahawks are still “actively” looking for a trade partner.
“Nope, not actively looking for that,” Schneider responded. “Nope.”
Earl Thomas, a six-time Pro Bowl selection and arguably the NFL’s best safety, isn’t likely to be traded. Jeff Halstead/Zuma Press/Icon Sportswire
Asked if the Seahawks had looked to trade Thomas, Schneider said it’s his job to consider everything.
“The way to answer that is that we’re not doing our job if we don’t listen to everybody,” he said. “If you guys could sit next to me throughout the draft, you’d be blown away with what you hear. You have to be ready to make decisions all the way through whether it’s the first round, third round or fifth round with players that are on their restricted tenders that want to be moved, so there’s names being thrown around all the time.”
That’s been a common response from Schneider to questions about a possible Thomas trade, which has been one of the more pressing topics of Seattle’s offseason. It has persisted for several reasons.
However, the best chance of a trade almost certainly came and went along with the second day of the draft. That’s because a trade now would have to include 2019 draft picks, which wouldn’t be nearly as valuable to the Seahawks since they can no longer draft an immediate replacement.
But it’s worth noting that at no point have the Seahawks slammed the door on a possible trade.
The next question: Will the Seahawks extend Thomas before the season? Schneider was noncommittal when asked Thursday if he foresees any talks with Thomas’ representatives about a new deal in the near future.
“That’s hard to tell. I mean, he’s under contract for next year,” Schneider said. “From a timing standpoint, that’s not something I’m going to get into. But obviously, everybody loves Earl. We all know he’s a Hall of Fame-caliber player. Like I said, he’s the second player we ever picked here. He’s just been a huge inspiration all the way through. The guys a tempo-setter at practice and overcame his injury, and he’s been doing great ever since.”
Thomas was the NFL’s highest-paid safety in terms of annual average when he signed a four-year, $40 million extension in 2014, but he’s since fallen to sixth, with teammate Kam Chancellor ($12 million) among those who have surpassed him. He first raised the possibility of holding out in an interview with ESPN from the Pro Bowl in January, but Schneider said last month that he’s been told by Thomas’ representatives that he won’t hold out.
Is there any concern on Schneider’s part that Thomas’ attitude may change if he doesn’t get a new deal before the season?
“I don’t think so,” Schneider said. “He plays the game 100 miles an hour. He only knows how to do this in one manner, and that’s just all out. So no, I wouldn’t think that would be a factor for him.”
“We had to keep looking over at that card too — right? — in the third round, like, ‘OK, he’s part of this too,'” Schneider said. “When we made that move, we were hoping to lock him up, have him finish his career here.”
Washington Redskins cheerleaders were required to pose topless for a photo shoot in 2013, while spectators invited by the team looked on, the New York Times reported Wednesday.
Some of the cheerleaders were then required to attend a nightclub event as escorts for some of the team’s male sponsors, according to the Times.
The cheerleaders said there was no sex involved, but they felt the team was “pimping us out.” The incidents occurred on a weeklong trip to Costa Rica, for which the cheerleaders were not paid.
“It’s just not right to send cheerleaders out with strange men when some of the girls clearly don’t want to go,” one of the women told the paper. “But unfortunately, I feel like it won’t change until something terrible happens, like a girl is assaulted in some way, or raped. I think teams will start paying attention to this only when it’s too late.”
The Times also described an annual, mandatory boat outing with sponsors. Some of the women characterized the 2012 trip as “a wild gathering, where men shot liquor into the cheerleaders’ mouths with turkey basters. Below the deck, men handed out cash prizes in twerking contests.”
The Redskins responded to the accounts in a statement to the Times.
“The Redskins’ cheerleader program is one of the NFL’s premier teams in participation, professionalism and community service,” the team said. “Each Redskin cheerleader is contractually protected to ensure a safe and constructive environment. The work our cheerleaders do in our community, visiting our troops abroad and supporting our team on the field is something the Redskins organization and our fans take great pride in.”
The NFL has come under increased scrutiny for how it treats cheerleaders. Two women, former New Orleans Saints cheerleader Bailey Davis and former Miami Dolphins cheerleader Kristan Ware, filed discrimination complaints against the league last month.
Among the issues they cited were gender discrimination, sexual harassment, low pay, long and unpaid hours, and discriminatory social media oversight.
The NFL responded to the lawsuits with a statement saying: “Everyone who works in the NFL, including cheerleaders, has the right to work in a positive and respectful environment that is free from any and all forms of harassment and discrimination and fully complies with state and federal laws.”
The league said it would work with teams “in sharing best practices” to support cheerleading squads.
Sara Blackwell, the lawyer representing the former cheerleaders filing suit, said last week that the women would settle all claims for $1 in exchange for a four-hour, good-faith meeting with commissioner Roger Goodell and lawyers for the league. In a letter to an attorney for the NFL, they asked for a response from the league by Friday.
“We want change,” Blackwell said. “We want the opportunity for change.”
