Character will count in the NFL draft

A top safety is hard to find, and the University of Miami’s Brandon Meriweather certainly fits the description. He can smother sizzling receivers, stuff bull-necked running backs at the line of scrimmage, and is among the best open-field tacklers in this year’s NFL draft.

Meriweather also knows how to use his feet -- and that’s his problem.

In October, when the Hurricanes brawled with players from Florida International, Meriweather was in the middle of it all. Cameras captured him running into the melee and repeatedly stomping on a Florida International player.

Meriweather was among the 31 players suspended -- 13 from the Hurricanes and 18 from Florida International -- and the fallout could result in his tumbling out of the first round at a steep financial cost.

“Yes, I think it hurts,” he conceded at a scouting combine in February. “I was a leader, and I should have known better, and I should have done a little more to prevent it from happening.”

Around draft time every year, NFL teams look deep into the background of prospects, searching for unreported run-ins with the law, personality quirks, anything that could portend problems down the road.

But, after a spate of arrests in the league last season led to a stricter conduct policy, teams will be especially sensitive about making the right decisions this weekend.

“We dig into that, the person’s character, the background,” Jacksonville Coach Jack Del Rio said. “In some cases, we remove guys from our board altogether. In other cases, we would still take a guy.... It’s definitely a factor.”

Some of the questions this year are right at the top of the draft.

Three players widely seen as top-10 selections have admitted to previously smoking marijuana, a Pro Football Weekly report said. Georgia Tech receiver Calvin Johnson, Clemson defensive end Gaines Adams and Louisville defensive tackle Amobi Okoye made the admissions during standard interviews with team representatives during the combine. Oakland is considering using the No. 1 pick on Johnson.

As for Meriweather, in addition to his involvement in the brawl, he made headlines last summer when, in self defense, he pulled out a gun and returned fire after an assailant shot Hurricanes teammate Willie Cooper in the buttocks. His three shots missed, and he wasn’t charged because he legally owned the gun.

Other players whose status might be affected by character questions include:

* Cornerback Eric Wright, Nevada Las Vegas -- The former USC starter transferred to UNLV in 2005 amid possible disciplinary action by the school after an arrest on suspicion of rape. Police said they later found 136 Ecstasy pills in his apartment. Charges were never filed, however, because of insufficient evidence.

* Cornerback Tarrell Brown, Texas -- He was arrested in September on suspicion of misdemeanor drug and weapon violations. Brown and a teammate were passengers in a car driven erratically by a third teammate. Police reported finding Brown asleep in the back seat with his hand on a 9-millimeter handgun in his lap. Police also found marijuana in the car.

* Cornerback Tanard Jackson, Syracuse -- In 2004, Jackson was stabbed in the left side of his chest during an altercation at a fraternity-sponsored dance.

* Defensive tackle DeMarcus “Tank” Tyler, North Carolina State -- He pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct after a run-in with police in July and was ejected from a game last season for allegedly spitting on an official.

With the spotlight on character issues this year, even teams that have been known to take risks might be shying away from some prospects. Cincinnati last year had nine players arrested in a nine-month period -- a couple more than once -- and Bengals Coach Marvin Lewis indicated the franchise will not hesitate to pull a player off the draft board.

“There’s been a tendency to buy the bargain,” he said. “I don’t think we’re in a position to do that anymore.”

Lewis added, “There’s too many other guys. We’re spending too much time trying to change habits instead of coaching good guys.... A guy who has had social problems with drugs and alcohol has a hard time with discipline. A guy who can’t get along with his teammates and coaches has a hard time with discipline.”

Bengals receiver Chris Henry was arrested four times in a 14-month period spanning 2005 and 2006 in Florida, Kentucky and Ohio.

And his misdeeds were exceeded by Tennessee cornerback Adam “Pacman” Jones, who this month was suspended by the NFL for the entire 2007 season. On the same day, the league slapped Henry with a half-season suspension.

Since being selected in the first round of the 2005 draft, Jones has been arrested at least five times and interviewed by police five more. His most recent run-in took place during NBA All-Star weekend in Las Vegas. Police there have recommended felony and misdemeanor charges against him stemming from a shooting outside a strip club that left a man paralyzed. The investigation is ongoing.

NFL history is filled with examples of character gambles, some that paid off and others that didn’t. There was receiver Randy Moss, who slipped to the 21st pick in 1998 because of his college troubles, then turned out to be the steal of the draft for Minnesota. Two years earlier, there was Nebraska’s Christian Peter, a talented defensive tackle who tumbled all the way into the fifth round largely because of his string of arrests and violent history. He was selected by New England, then dumped three days later amid an outcry about his criminal record. He later spent six unremarkable seasons with the New York Giants.

Some people questioned Ryan Leaf’s character before San Diego made him the No. 2 pick in the 1998 draft; those skeptics turned out to be right. The opposite was true in 1983, when Hall of Fame quarterback Dan Marino tumbled to No. 27, where he was selected by Miami amid unsubstantiated rumors of drug use in college.

With the ever-increasing reach of the media, and the year-round attention paid to the NFL, it’s increasingly difficult for players to hide from run-ins with the law or brush off unsavory incidents in their past.

“Technology is a lot different than it was 10 years ago,” Tennessee Coach Jeff Fisher said. “Our resources are different. The amount of information we are able to get about the players is different.”

Still, the Titans obviously missed on Jones, whose only character blemish heading into the 2005 draft was he had pleaded guilty to misdemeanor assault for his role in a bar fight as a freshman at West Virginia.

“We have always placed a priority on character,” Fisher said. “We just couldn’t predict the choices the player would make once we got him.”

sam.farmer@latimes.com