Without any clear-cut, must-have players in this year’s draft, there’s an extra layer of intrigue because it’s more unclear than ever where many of the best players will fall.

The most unclear — and most intriguing — is Arkansas running back Darren McFadden.  His talent is undeniable, but he has been dogged character issues resulting from a troubled upbringing and a couple of incidents that got him in no real trouble.  Still, it that makes many wonder whether any real trouble is on the horizon.

It also makes us wonder whether there was other stuff that happened in Arkansas that never saw the light of day.  We’re aware of no other specific or general incidents involving McFadden, but given that the Razorbacks play in a small state with limited media coverage, it wouldn’t surprise us to learn that, if there was any other stuff involving McFadden, it was kept tightly under wraps by the Arkansas program, and by local television, newspaper, and radio outlets that possibly weren’t interested in jeopardizing their access by pressing the matter.

One of the glaring problems is the fact that McFadden spent ten years in a household with a mother who was addicted to crack.  (This recent item from Skip Wood of USA Today does a great job of describing the situation.)  Though McFadden is his own man, the influence of that experience on his development is unknown.

And his mother figures to be one of those colorful characters who periodically come along in sports.  Too willing to talk, and too willing to be too candid when doing so, Mini Muhammad first created a distraction for her son’s football career last August, when she said that McFadden would leave school early and enter the 2008 draft.  A swift denial was issued.  And, of course, he ultimately left school early and entered the 2008 draft.

A league source told us on Friday that ESPN aired earlier in the week an interview of McFadden, which included separate segments with McFadden and his mother.  The video is now nowhere to be found, and apparently did not enter the library of stuff that ESPN periodically airs again and again (and again).  (We’re not complaining . . . except when we’re watching the same thing for the eighth time.)

Here’s how the source described one portion of the interview:  “Darren’s mother proclaimed that her crack habit was always second fiddle to her putting food on the table and keeping a roof over her 12 kids’ heads.  She ensured the interviewer that she always made sure her family and kids were taken care of despite her addiction.  But Darren then was seen talking about how he and his family never knew where their next meal would come from or if the water or power would be on when they woke up.” 

She also said, per the source who saw the interview, that McFadden’s family members know not to smoke marijuana around him.

And here’s how the source summed up the interview:  “The interview was horrible for McFadden’s reputation.  If his own comments did not sell you, his mother’s comments beat it into your head.  Thank God they could not find any of Darren’s brothers to speak their mind.  They must have been smoking pot, since they know not to do that around [Darren], per mom’s orders.”

McFadden, in an ESPN interview that hasn’t (yet) been tossed into the abyss, vows that his family won’t affect his career.  “My family understands what I have going on and what I have on the line, and they won’t be a problem at all.”

But, still, McFadden has been keeping his mother in a position to potentially create problems, even if the problems are mere annoyances.  Most recently, Mini Muhammad politicked on Friday for the Cowboys to draft McFadden, according to Sam Farmer of the Los Angeles Times.  She specifically doesn’t want him to be picked by the Jets at No. 6. 

“I hate New York; it’s too big,” Muhammad said . . . while attending a pre-draft event in New York.

Other than the Cowboys, she wants him to play for the Falcons or “whatever team they’ve got there in Tennessee.”   

Though he might not still be on the board when “whatever team they’ve got there in Tennessee” is using the 24th pick in round one, we suddenly wouldn’t be surprised if he slides farther than anyone realizes.

If he gets past No. 4 and the Raiders, of course.  Al Davis, in our view, is thinking only about this year, and McFadden is the guy who can have the biggest impact right now on a football team.