NFL General Manager Predicts "30 to 40 Percent" of Players in This Year's Draft Use Marijuana on a Regular Basis

The national and state-to-state debate over marijuana usage hasn't escaped the country's biggest sport: NFL football. In the lead-up to Thursday night's draft, marijuana has been the vice of choice that has embroiled a few top prospects in controversy.

Potential top 10 picks Shane Ray and Randy Gregory have seen their draft stock take hits over the past month because of marijuana-related incidents. Ray was recently cited for marijuana possession in Missouri, and Gregory tested positive for the drug at the combine. 

Their individual pre-draft profiles may be damaged in the minds of commentators, who are analyzing and projecting potential landing spots for Ray and Gregory in response to the day-to-day news cycle, but to NFL GMs, marijuana usage isn't a left-field sin that they never see on their own rosters. In fact, it's far more common than Stephen A. Smith would probably like to see. Bleacher Report's Mike Freeman spoke to one anonymous GM on marijuana and its relationship to the draft and the rest of the league: 

GM to me: "My estimate is 30 to 40 percent of players in this draft class use marijuana regularly. That's right in line with our league."

— mike freeman (@mikefreemanNFL) April 29, 2015

Taking that "30 to 40 percent" estimate and applying it league-wide, and you've got one NFL GM claiming that roughly 500 to 700 active NFL players smoke marijuana regularly. Ray and Gregory should feel right at home in the NFL, actually. 

It might be high time for the NFL to reconsider its stance on marijuana. 

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[via @mikefreemanNFL on Twitter]