You feelin' the draft?

The NFL draft, that is.

(Corniest intro ever.)

Anyway, interesting article about how the process of 'vetting' prospective players has become increasingly more intense and invasive in the past few decades and arguably ethically suspect. How far should NFL teams be allowed to go to ensure their future players aren't engaged in high-risk behavior or perhaps suffer from high-risk psychological infirmaries?

From what I read, nothing mentioned in the article (including psychological profiles compiled by asking the draftees personal questions about their parents' breakups and even 'tailing' the draftees in an effort to gather evidence) seems ethically suspect to me, and I've got an itchy trigger finger when it comes to moralizing. Considering the amount of money that a given NFL draft pick is worth (not merely the money paid to the draftee, but to the opportunity costs) and how NFL teams (more so than even the NBA) rise and fall on succeed of drafts, it should come as no surprise to anyone that a franchise is going to do its due diligence when it comes to research. Are psychological evaluations unheard of? Try getting a job with any federal agency and tell me if the evaluation is any more corgial. Is tailing someone terrible? Tailing is not bugging a phone, mind you. Tailing is all too common and all quite legal (Consider the paparazzi).