Jason Wolf

USA TODAY NETWORK – Tennessee

Jack Conklin is the ideal Jon Robinson player.

A former walk-on at Michigan State, the tackle became an All-Pro as a rookie. He was everything Robinson could have hoped for and more, both on and off the field, when the Titans’ new general manager traded up last year to make his first draft pick with the eighth overall selection.

Of course, not every prospect brings the total package like Conklin. On-field ability is the primary concern. But there’s far more to scouting than determining whether a guy can play. And for the Titans, "red flags" like drug use or domestic violence don’t automatically drop a prospect off the draft board.

“I think you really have to research the situation,” Robinson said at the NFL Scouting Combine, “and get every piece of information that you can about every single situation, (rather than) take something at face value based on whatever the information may be out there. You have to do a good job — it’s our charge to research every situation as in-depth as possible and then make a decision that you’re just not going to go down that road, or maybe this situation is something that we don’t think is going to be a big issue.”

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The Titans, like all NFL teams, have been attending college pro days to continue scouting prospects in the weeks since more than 300 top college players, invited by the league, underwent medical testing, performed strength, agility and speed drills and interviewed at the combine.

But not every player of interest was invited to participate. And one likely first-round draft pick of possible interest to the Titans — Alabama linebacker Reuben Foster — was sent home early by the league after getting into a heated verbal altercation with an employee at the hospital. He met privately with teams at Alabama’s pro day to discuss his actions.

Oklahoma running back Joe Mixon, a first-round talent who was caught on camera punching a female student in the face in 2014, is a prime example of a prospect who wasn’t invited to the combine but is drawing significant interest from teams and fans alike. Mixon received a one-year deferred prison sentence, was required to perform 100 hours of community service, receive counseling and was suspended for the season. He’s publicly apologized and since starred for the Sooners.

All 32 NFL teams attended Oklahoma’s pro day, and Mixon has since reportedly been climbing draft boards.

Titans coach Mike Mularkey was asked at the combine about whether he’d consider a prospect with a history of drug use or domestic violence.

“I think we give the guy a chance first, if either we can interview him here or bring him in for (a visit to the Titans’ facility) or when we go to their schools, to understand, ‘Has he learned from the incident? Is that something in the past that’s gone by?’” Mularkey said. “You can’t immediately knock somebody out of the loop just for a mistake they made, and there are a lot of them that have made mistakes. And they’re mistakes. One-time mistakes.”

For many, drafting a player with character concerns becomes a question of value.

“We’re going to stack them up based on football (ability),” NFL Network draft analyst Mike Mayock told reporters at the combine about the way he ranks prospects. “But as we get closer to the draft, there’s a realistic take on all of this, and the poster boy this year happens to be Mixon. And I think it’s going to be, No. 1 an owner conversation. Some owners have already taken him off the board. That’s a fact. The rest of the teams are going to have to vet him and make a determination. And I’ve heard a lot of conversation about (wide receiver and return man Tyreek Hill) from Kansas City, who went in the fifth round last year. That’s kind of the benchmark. Like, OK, that was last year. He turned into an All-Pro.

“Mixon is a first-round talent. At what point can you take him? So it’s a lot like anything non-football. It’s a lot like medical. The character issue, all that stuff gets vetted and some teams say he’s off the board. Other teams might say — I’m not talking about Mixon now, I’m just talking about issues — other teams might say, ‘I can live with that medical issue or I can live with that character issue, just grade the player.’ A lot of teams say it’s a sliding scale. ‘I’m not willing to put a ‘one’ on him, but if he was sitting there (in the fifth round), I’m taking him, because I can mitigate my financial loss that way.’”

Is there a point in the draft where the Titans consider taking a chance on Mixon?

What about Alabama star outside linebacker Tim Williams, who failed multiple drug tests earlier in his career and was charged with carrying a handgun without a permit?

Or Ole Miss wide receiver Damore'ea Stringfellow, who's 6-foot-2, 211 pounds and was the team's second-leading receiver, but pleaded guilty to assault in 2014 and was charged with disorderly conduct after a nightclub fight in 2015? Or Baylor receiver Ishmael Zamora, who's 6-4, 215 and starred for the Bears, but was cited for animal abuse?

“I think the philosophical approach that we took last year about tough, dependable, team-first guys, that’s not going to change,” Robinson said. “That’s ingrained in what we want to be about as a football team. If we can add players that are bigger, if we can add players that are stronger, if we can add players that are faster, that fit that philosophy, great. We want to be as big and strong and fast a team as we can. But at the core of the player has to be those things.”

Robinson said the Titans aren’t more focused on intangibles than other teams.

“I think it’s the complete profile of a player,” he said. “It’s the value that he’s going to bring on the field, it’s the value that he’s going to bring in the locker room. Is he going to be a good teammate? Is he a coachable player? Is he a detailed player? Is he going to fit well in the community?

“We’re not looking for a bunch of choir boys, but we’re looking for guys that can play football and act like mature adults.”

Reach Jason Wolf atjwolf@tennessean.comand follow him on Twitter at@JasonWolfand on Instagram and Snapchat atTitansBeat.