Why did Andrew Billings drop?

Baylor’s Andrew Billings was once thought of as potential 1st round pick, but he ended up falling on draft day.

While I was higher on Andrew Billings than most draftniks, his fall from an average draft spot of 23 to 122 was not seen by anyone. So the question is: why did Billings fall so dramatically?

What came out during the draft was whispers that Billings would need minor knee surgery before the season. This still hasn’t occurred, and it would be plausible that if he truly needed this surgery the Bengals would have pushed him to do so since they don’t need him on the field anytime soon.

That there has been no procedure on his knee suggests one of two things: 1-that some teams thought he would need surgery but not every team agreed or 2-someone commenced a smear campaign against Billings to get him to drop.

Since Billings literally was passed on by every team multiple times, #2 seems far more plausible than #1. If this was the case, even the Bengals believed it because they repeatedly passed on Billings until taking him late in the 4th round. The Bengals have a track record of finding defensive tackle gems in day 3. Perhaps Billings will be the next Geno Atkins?

During the draft, Mike Mayock dismissed the knee rumors and stated that multiple teams told him that they felt Billings was a run stopping tackle only. This is fairly plausible. Billings has some great speed and quickness, but he’s very raw as a pass rusher. The problem with this argument is that there were plenty of one dimensional or raw or both defensive tackles who went ahead of Billings in this draft. For example: Jarren Reed, A’Shawn Robinson, Adam Gotsis, etc etc.

Perhaps there’s a more sinister reason why Billings and other Baylor players dropped: the recent revelations about the behavior of Baylor players and how the coaching staff put an immediate and perhaps unfair red flag on all the Baylor prospects. Shawn Oakman, who’s facing a sex assault charge, went undrafted and unsigned. Nor has any team even considered signing him as far as anyone knows. Just to be clear, there’s been no allegations about Billings or any other Baylor player who was in the 2015 draft but it’s curious that Billings and Spencer Drango(who was graded out as a late 2nd-early 3rd round pick but went in the late 5th) both had inexplicable drops.

What is the truth? Why did Billings drop? I honestly have no idea. Nor does anyone else. There’s too much conflicting information out there and now that the draft is over, teams-even privately-are going to want to justify and rationalize their decisions. The most plausible explanation is a combination of all three. Teams had a concern for all Baylor players but rumors about his knee and suitability just made it “easy” for a team to red line Billings. Personally, I heard a rumor that one team removed Billings from their board on the morning of the 1st round. This would make the combination of explanations theory far more plausible.  We’ll see if 31 teams made the right decision.