Everybody makes mistakes in life but, in the football world, few come close to the magnitude of Missouri edge rusher Shane Ray's incident on Monday.
Just days before the 2015 NFL Draft kicks off, the pass rusher was cited for misdemeanor possession of marijuana by officers just outside of Columbia, Mo. According to NFL Media's Albert Breer, that has changed some teams' outlook on Ray given that he previously failed a drug test early in his career with the Tigers.
While some teams have likely scrambled to take NFL Media analyst Mike Mayock's No. 5 edge rusher off their board, the Atlanta Falcons are keeping Ray on theirs. New head coach Dan Quinn hopped on SiriusXM Tuesday and confirmed that the franchise still has Ray on their draft board.
"Absolutely," Quinn said when asked if Ray is still on his team's board. "When we're going through the process, we felt good about him. He had a set-back and it was hard, but hopefully it's something he learns from and can move on from."
Ray has seen his stock go all over the map throughout the pre-draft process, and the recent citation certainly won't help his case to be a top-10 pick. That said, NFL Media analyst Daniel Jeremiah recently slotted Ray to the Falcons in his mock draft done a week ago, so Quinn confirming that the Mizzou star is still on the team's radar might help him stay right where he was predicted to go.
Quinn didn't just comment on Ray. The coach had some high praise for another player who the team is being linked to at the No. 8 overall pick in local star Todd Gurley. Widely considered to be one of the top two running backs in this year's class, there have been concerns over his recovery from ACL surgery, but that might not be an issue for Atlanta.
"He's certainly on his way to being cleared," Quinn added. "From all medical reports, he certainly seems like he's well on his way to recovery that you can expect.
"I think the rehab is going well and I think the sky is the limit for this guy."
You can follow Bryan Fischer on Twitter at @BryanDFischer.