Apr 30, 2016 5 min read

I’m a little confused about Laremy Tunsil.

Tunsil was, as recently as a few weeks ago, predicted by many to be the first player taken in the NFL Draft. He’s an offensive tackle from the University of Mississippi and became the biggest story of the first round Thursday night when he dropped all the way to the 13th pick.

And why did he have one of the longest drops in the history of the first round? Because a video from his Instagram account surfaced that showed him inhaling vast quantities of marijuana from a bong connected to a gas mask.

OK, I can see where that might scare some teams off, but why didn’t it scare the Miami Dolphins, who took him in the first round?

The guy picked 13th last year, Andrus Peat, an offensive tackle from Stanford, signed with the New Orleans Saints for $11.39 million, including a $6.35 million signing bonus. The Dolphins will be paying Tunsil a little more than that.

Let’s say Tunsil would have been the third overall pick if not for the bong video. He would be getting a little more than last year’s No. 3, Dante Fuller, an outside linebacker from Florida, who signed with the Jacksonville Jaguars for $23.5 million, including a $15.3 million signing bonus.

So, the bong video might have cost Tunsil $10 million.

But why?

The Dolphins saw the video and they think he’s worth the risk at $6.35 million. That’s still a lot of money, right?

So, using a gas mask to smoke weed doesn’t disqualify a player? It just makes him worth $10 million less than a guy who didn’t, or at least didn’t get caught on video doing it?

The Dolphins say they knew the story and they’re convinced that the video was two years old.

If the video justified passing up Tunsil for $15 million, how is somebody still willing to guarantee him $6.35 million?

• The Steelers obviously noticed that they gave up more passing yards than any team in the AFC last season. They used their first three picks on defensive players. The consensus on their first pick, Artie Burns, a cornerback from Miami, seems to be that he is a project. His new head coach, Mike Tomlin referred to him as a “nice piece of clay to work with.”

Burns might be a great pick and headed for the Pro Football Hall of Fame, but a nice piece of clay doesn’t help the Steelers’ secondary in 2016. And remember, all those yards were given up to second- and third-string quarterbacks in the last seven games.

Maybe the second pick, Sean Davis from Maryland, will give them immediate help at strong safety, but the Steelers could be counting on three rookies in their defensive backfield next season if you count cornerback Senquez Goldson, who was drafted in the second round last year and missed the season because of an injury.

Cornerback might be the toughest position to play in the NFL and the Steelers might have made a nice investment in the future, but in the immediate future their offense is still going to need to score a lot of points.

• Using video replay to “get it right” is a good thing but it has its drawbacks. The end of Game 1 between the Penguins and the Washington Capitals is a perfect example. T.J. Oshie of the Capitals scored what appeared to be the game-winning goal early in overtime, but moments like that tend to lose something when 18,000 screaming fans have to shut up and wait several minutes for someone in Toronto to look at the video.

And does the NHL really want to get it right when video showing a knee-to-knee hit that gets a player fined after the fact can’t be used to put a player in the penalty box for four minutes, if not ejected from the game?

Tom Wilson’s hit on Conor Sheary didn’t draw a penalty Thursday night but it got Wilson fined the maximum $2,400. (That’s not a typo. It’s 2,400 not 24,000.) Every league that claims to be interested in “getting it right” should employ an eye-in-the-sky in the press box, who can make officials aware of calls that they miss.

• Who is responsible for the spread of Red Carpet Disease? Remember when the Academy Awards was the only event where people were shown walking into a theatre and being asked, “Who are you wearing?”

Remember when guys liked watching sports because they knew they would never have to be subjected to that kind of idiocy?

The NFL Netowrk and ESPN both gave coverage to the Red Carpet at the NFL Draft Thursday night, and the NHL’s draft will get the same treatment from the NHL Network and NBC Sports Network next month.

It’s a good thing we all have remote control.

• Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews combined for one goal in the Chicago Blackhawks’ seven-game series loss to the St. Louis Blues. It happens.

• The Cowboys drafted Ohio State running back Ezekiel Elliot with their first pick. I watched his highlight reel and saw a lot of nice runs through some really big holes but not any great runs.

• I plan to start working on my 2017 NFL mock draft on the 12th.

Of never.

John Steigerwald writes a Sunday column for the Observer-Reporter.