Last year, Greengross represented Louisville defensive tackle Amobi Okoye, who, like two other first-round prospects - Georgia Tech wide receiver Calvin Johnson and Clemson defensive end Gaines Adams - admitted to NFL teams in interviews that he had tried marijuana at some point in his young life.

Hardly earth-shattering news, but when millions of guaranteed dollars are involved, it doesn't take much to turn a top-10 prospect into a leper.

"Given the current climate in the NFL, character is a concern, no matter who the player is, but especially when he's someone at the top of the draft," Greengross said.

As it turned out, the trio's candor ended up having zero effect on their draft stock. Johnson was the second overall pick in the draft, going to the Detroit Lions. Adams went fourth to the Tampa Bay Bucs and Okoye 10th to the Houston Texans.

But concerns over last year's admissions were nothing compared with the night sweats NFL teams started having when they checked out the background and character of McFadden, the immensely talented University of Arkansas running back, who grew up in Little Rock:

Two separate fights outside of nightclubs within the last 21 months - one in which he dislocated his toe, and another in January in which he was briefly handcuffed but never charged.

Three paternity suits filed against him. A former-crack-addict mother who, according to one league security official, has been arrested 12 times. Eleven brothers and sisters ranging in age from 14 to 40. Twenty-seven nieces and nephews. Not exactly a "Leave It to Beaver" life.

"He's a phenomenal player," said Oakland Raiders coach Lane Kiffin, whose team owns the fourth pick in this weekend's draft. "He's a guy a lot of people would like to have. But there's no question he's made some bad decisions."

"There've been some red flags," St. Louis Rams player personnel director Billy Devaney said in February at the scouting combine, where McFadden ran a blazing 4.33 40. "If you're thinking about taking a guy that high, you have to cover everything."

With the help of Greengross and the rest of his team of advisers, McFadden, 20, has spent much of the last 3 months trying to convince NFL teams he's a good kid from a bad background who learned from his mistakes and can be trusted with an eight-figure signing bonus.

"Darren has been willing to be open and honest about the mistakes he's made and was willing to address them and explain them," Greengross said. "Clearly, he knows that, by being in those situations [in the nightclubs] in the first place, he put himself in a bad spot. But in neither one of the fight incidents was Darren the aggressor.

"He knows he made a mistake in just being there. But in neither case was it a case of Darren just being a bully. If you look at the incidents, he was just coming to the defense in both cases."

McFadden, the second-leading rusher in Southeastern Conference history, has been criss-crossing the country the last 3 weeks meeting with many of the teams in the top 10 of the draft, including the Rams (picking second), the Raiders, the New York Jets (sixth) and the New England Patriots (seventh).

They've grilled him on everything - the bar fights, his mother, the Cadillac Escalade he purchased last year while still at Arkansas, the paternity suits, his brothers' gang affiliations, his friends, even his plans for his signing bonus.

"I've grown up a lot," a contrite McFadden told reporters at the scouting combine. "I know I put myself in some bad situations in the past that I shouldn't have been in, and I take full responsibility for it.

"Football was an escape growing up in a tough environment. A lot of bad things were laid out in front of me. And at any point in time in my life, I could have taken the wrong road. But I felt like I always stayed on the right road and did the positive things."

The reservations about McFadden aren't limited to off-the-field issues. While Greengross unabashedly calls his client the "best player in the draft," few scouts and draft analysts share that opinion. Many aren't even sure he's the best running back in the draft.

"To be honest, he doesn't have a running-back build," said a scout for one of the teams that had the 6-1, 211-pounder in for a visit this month. "I think Rashard Mendenhall [of Illinois] might be a better player when all is said and done.

"[McFadden's] got very thin legs. Now, guys with his build have been successful in this league. Marcus Allen had thin legs. Other [successful] guys have had thin legs. But he's not going to break a lot of tackles with his lower body like Adrian Peterson can."

NFL Network draft analyst Mike Mayock has similar reservations and rated him below the 5-10, 225-pound Mendenhall.

"I still have issues with the fact that he's got a very narrow base when he runs and he goes down too easily upon contact," Mayock said. "A lot of people around the league I know and trust, who know and trust me, agree with me. I'm not in a rowboat by myself on that.

"However, if you talk to enough people around the league, what overrides that is the home-run threat. You beg, borrow and steal in the NFL to find playmakers. If you can go 80 yards in one play instead of 80 in 12 plays, you want that kind of guy.

"I think most of the teams are going to overlook the legs-go-dead-at-contact thing and say, 'OK, playmaker vs. at what point are we willing to take a chance [on the character issue]?' "

There has been speculation that point could be at No. 4 with the Raiders, who have never viewed choirboy experience as a prerequisite for playing for them. But as Kiffin pointed out recently, they don't really need a running back.

"We have three running backs [Justin Vargis, Dominic Rhodes and LaMont Jordan] that rotated for us last year all coming back, and then we also have ['07 fourth-round pick] Michael Bush, who kind of redshirted for us last season," he said.

"I think McFadden is a guy a lot of people would like to have. But you really have to have him targeted and know how you want to use him, because he's a unique player."

If the Raiders pass on McFadden, he could go to the Jets at No. 6.

Wherever McFadden is taken this weekend, Greengross said he doesn't think the character issue will be a factor.

"The backside story to Darren has been cleared up by Darren himself," he said. "That just leaves talent.

"When you talk with him, you can tell he's a good person. I know every agent says that about his kid. But he's got that natural charisma. One team told me they had one opinion of Darren before they met him and then another after they met with him." *