I agree to an extent; like I seriously doubt anyone had intel indicating that McDowell was the level of moron who would ride an ATV without a helmet shortly after signing a multi-million dollar contract. That being said, I think it's telling that Schneider and Carroll reportedly viewed the incident as a cautionary tale and dramatically altered their draft process as a result, rather than just throwing up their arms and saying "well, nobody could have seen THAT coming!". There must have been something in the evaluation process that they felt they either overlooked or didn't give enough importance to. It might have just been a case where certain kinds of people seem to be a magnet for trouble.
I felt the change Carroll and Schneider made was screening players for Cluster B personality disorders and Anti-social (sociopath) tendencies, in high degree. I believe they found out Percy Harvin is a sociopath with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD); the signs were all there. I believe they found out that McDowell also was high in sociopathy along with Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD) tendencies. This was a change from Pete's overconfidence that the Seahawks culture, role models, and environment could turn underprivileged young AA men into responsible people; it had worked on many. However, Cluster B and anti-social tendencies are not something that generally change in a person's 20's or 30's, at least not without a LOT of desire that comes from the person themselves. More typically,
Cluster B sociopaths will develop skills and strategies that hide their true nature and temporarily fool authority figures until the sociopath is in a position of control. They know how they are and will do nearly anything to avoid a situation that results in them being "officially" diagnosed.
Once they realized what Harvin really was, and did the learning, PC/JS traded Harvin to the Jets for a 6th rounder. Sucker punching Golden Tate the night before the Super Bowl, what kind of person would do that? Oh yes, a sociopathic BPD. Then they repeated the mistake with McDowell and realized he was also a Cluster B sociopath, most likely an NPD, and that the track record wasn't good with those players.
Now that I think about it, that is probably the reason they passed on Jalen Carter last year; Carter seems to check a lot of the Cluster B sociopath boxes, possibly along with NPD.
I've written several other posts on this topic in the past, expounding on the Cluster B issue for Harvin, especially, and also for McDowell. I've also written posts about admitted BPD Brandon Marshall, like the ONLY celebrity EVER to publicly come out and acknowledge this condition. True COURAGE! Kaitlyn Gender can go get a-f***ed, "Courage Award", rubbish, that would go to Brandon Marshall. I'd guess that Marshall is a little lower in sociopathic traits than Harvin and McDowell, PLUS, he sought understanding and help for his condition.
P.S. BPD celebrities... Angelina Jolie checks TONS of the boxes. Poor Brad, he thought with the wrong head.
