NFL Rumors: Laremy Tunsil’s video kept Ravens from drafting him
By John Buhler
The Baltimore Ravens reportedly took Laremy Tunsil completely off their board after seeing the gas mask video come to light on social media.
According to ESPN insider Adam Schefter, the Baltimore Ravens planned on taking Ole Miss Rebels offensive tackle Laremy Tunsil with their No. 6 overall draft selection. However, that was before the gas mask video of Tunsil appeared on social media just before Thursday night’s NFL Draft.
Tunsil plummeted to the Miami Dolphins at No. 13 and Baltimore decided to go with Notre Dame Fighting Irish offensive tackle Ronnie Stanly at No. 6 instead. Schefter added that “Tunsil lost $7 million by falling seven spots in the draft.”
Had the video not been leaked on Tunsil’s verified Twitter account, Baltimore was set on taking the elite SEC offensive lineman. However, once Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti and Ravens general manager Ozzie Newsome saw the video, they acted swiftly and took Tunsil completely off their board.
Newsome would go on to say at his draft press conference, “when things happen a lot times we’re not surprised. We took the best player, the player who rated the highest on the board at that point.”
Well, technically, wasn’t Tunsil the highest player on their board? However, that didn’t seem to be a problem with the Dolphins organization who went on to select him at No. 13. The Dolphins said “Tunsil was very forthright about all of his transgressions during their conversations, and that helped Miami make the decision to select him.”
Newsome didn’t exactly say verbatim that he took Tunsil off his draft board entirely, but his press conference quote about taking the best player available on their board just means that Tunsil wasn’t ever going to be a Raven after that gas mask video leaked on Twitter. Even into day three, the Tunsil video remains the biggest story of the entire 2016 NFL Draft.
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