In an interview last August, five months before he would catch the game-winner in the National Championship Game for Florida State, Kelvin Benjamin labeled himself "lazy," admitting he "didn't have a good attitude" and took "plays off."
Since then, there had been nothing but praise for the wide receiver's work ethic. Until now.
According to NFL Media analyst Gil Brandt, when an NFL coach recently went to work Benjamin out, the wideout told the coach "he was too tired" and blew off the workout.
Not good news for someone who's weight was recently called into question by NFL Media analyst Charles Davis.
Brandt later posted on Twitter that Benjamin's agent, Eugene Parker, told him the receiver did not blow off a workout. Brandt, however, said he is sticking with his story from his source.
We checked in with two NFL scouts that cover the Southeast region of the country and had compiled notes on Benjamin through interviews, including one-on-ones with the receiver. Both said work-ethic and attitude issues surfaced in his first two years at FSU, but he seemed to turn things around last season.
"I think he really understood that he wasn't going to succeed on talent alone," one of the scouts said.
One scout, after being told of the story of the blown-off workout, speculated that Benjamin's agent might have given him the advice, perhaps not wanting his client to work out for a team at the lower end of the first round because he might have heard he'll go higher. It's a decent theory considering the ACL-tear injury suffered by guard Brandon Thomas during a recent workout for the New Orleans Saints. Limiting workouts, especially ones deemed unnecessary by some, limits exposure to injury.
NFL Media analysts have Benjamin going anywhere from No. 22 to the Philadelphia Eagles to No. 32 to the Seattle Seahawks in their mock drafts.
