We’ve done some checking around as to what teams might have known about the pre-existing legal troubles of Boston College tackle Gosder Cherilus, who was facing charges of assault and battery and assault and battery with a deadly weapon when he was picked by the Lions in the first round of the 2008 draft.

One league source explained to us that part of the problem is that teams rely too much on the biased reports that are provided by persons connected to the player’s college team.

“Scouts tend to rely on the people at schools for their information,” the source said.  “Those people — coaches, staff, etc. – generally have a vested interest in promoting their players.  It happens often that incidents get softened or swept away. 

“We definitely had the info about the fight in the bar.  The facts, however, were painted from the players’ and bar owner’s perspective.  Not the patron who got roughed up.”

The players’ version is that Cherilus and then-teammate DeJuan Tribble were trying to break up a fight.  But the person who the target of the peacemaking efforts claimed that they did much more than make peace.

The other reality is that many agents are notorious for feeding teams a line of B.S. when it comes to explaining away a player’s potential character problems.  And teams often fall for it. 

Though the source’s team wasn’t seriously targeting Cherilus, and thus didn’t devote additional resources to getting to the bottom of the situation, the reality here is that teams and the league office need to work closely together to get full and complete information about all potential red flags before the decision is made to make a multi-million-dollar investment in a guy who could become the next Pacman Jones.