Why DeMarvin Leal’s arrest won’t affect draft stock

The Texas A&M football team has more than a handful of top draft prospects. You’ll see players like Isaiah Spiller and Kenyon Green, both of whom are projected to go on day one in 2022. That said, one prospect seems like he has the highest ceiling of them all.

That player is DeMarvin Leal, who had a successful three years with Texas A&M. In those three years, Leal put up 25 tackles for loss, 13 sacks, an interception, and two forced fumbles. Most of these statistics were compiled during the 2021 season.

But as things often go, the Aggie defensive end found himself with another setback — one that has become all too familiar on this football team. Almost two weeks ago, Leal was arrested in Collin County on a possession of marijuana charge. Will this impact his draft stock?

Texas A&M football DE DeMarvin Leal may actually benefit from this situation in the long run

For starters, the NFL no longer tests for THC in NFL players. Random drug tests do occur, but due to the recent leniency on marijuana across the US, players can no longer be suspended for partaking in such activities.

So why would this impact his draft stock?

The title of this article might be slightly misleading — I do think that this could slightly impact his draft stock. That said, any impact that we’ll see will work out positively in the end. Allow me to explain.

If I’m a GM considering drafting DeMarvin Leal and I see that he was arrested with possession of less than two ounces of marijuana, my opinion of him does not change. Sure, it’s technically illegal in Texas but what are we doing here? This isn’t the 1970s — if you have a problem with marijuana, you’re not able to change with the times.

I say this to make a simple point: teams that feel as though his draft stock should be impacted by this are not changing with the times and are likely struggling in a modern NFL. If anything, Leal just weeded out the ignorant programs — pun intended.

The Aggie defensive end is extremely talented, so even if his draft stock does drop a bit, it just means that another team is getting a huge steal.