Jaylon Ferguson absence from NFL Scouting Combine criticised as agent calls for change

Agent Safarrah Lawson says the NFL needs to reconsider its policy after Jaylon Ferguson was disinvited from the Scouting Combine over an off-field issue.

Pass-rusher Ferguson is predicted to be a first-round pick in the 2019 Draft, but a conviction for simple battery in his first year at Louisiana Tech was found during a background check and has made him ineligible under NFL behaviour policy.

Ferguson, who holds the NCAA record for career sacks with 45, will now have to rely on individual workouts to impress potential employers.

Mississippi State defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons and Colorado State receiver Preston Williams are in a similar position although, unlike Ferguson, their misdemeanours had been public knowledge.

Lawson said in a statement: "We disagree with the NFL's position with regards to Jaylon.

"Jaylon is a great person who made a mistake four years ago before he started playing college football. He was involved in a scuffle which resulted in him being charged with simple battery.

"He received a deferred judgement and was fined $189 - a proper punishment for a fight between two teenagers.

"Since that day, Jaylon has been a fine and upstanding student athlete that personifies the things we are trying to teach our young people today.

"The past four years at Louisiana Tech, Jaylon has been a team leader who has led on and off the field, clearly learning from the lessons of his past.

"As opposed to penalising and vilifying the future players of the league, we would hope it would allow Jaylon and other similarly situated players the opportunity to prove to potential employers that they are remorseful and have learned from their mistakes, accepted responsibility, want to be good role models and are better people now for it."