Vontaze Burfict's off-the-field troubles are well documented, but the Arizona State linebacker and self-proclaimed "soft-spoken guy" believes scouts and draft pundits have missed the mark.
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Burfict wasn't invited to work out for a single team, and NFL Network draft analyst Mike Mayock said, "I'm not a fan at all," following the linebacker's underwhelming NFL Scouting Combine performance, which included a 5.08-second 40-yard dash.
"I know who I am as a person and I know how my mom raised me. I just know whatever team picks me, they'll get a great linebacker," Burfict told WNST-AM in Baltimore this week, via SportsRadioInterviews.com. "Once they see me on the field and see me off the field, they'll be like, 'Man, the media had this guy totally wrong. He's just such a great guy,' and stuff like that, so there will be a lot of good words after this draft about me."
Burfict acknowledged that "some of my immaturity kind of showed" during a three-year college career in which he was flagged for 17 personal fouls. But he refuted criticism that he won't listen to a coaching staff.
"I think that's totally wrong," Burfict said. "I love being coached, because I'm not the greatest athlete, but I loved being coached. You get better at every little thing that you do, so by me being coached, I love to listen to what a coach has to say, because obviously they've been there and done that, so I think I'm very coachable."
It might be too late in the game for Burfict to salvage a rough walkup to the draft. He's a physical defender who shows good instincts on the field, but scouts have been scared away. That's a tough ship to right this late in the process.