First Round NFL Draft Pick Victim to Twitter Hack

As an individual grows in fame, they become a much larger target for hacking scandals. The motives behind these hacks may not always be blatantly obvious, however. Usually, they are for money or sensitive information. However, sometimes a hack is simply to negatively affect a person’s life.

Thursday night was the 2016 NFL Draft hosted in Chicago, Illinois. The greatest prospects from around the country come together to anxiously wait being chosen to radically change their lives and become a full-time, paid athlete. A top player on every general manager’s radar this week was Laremy Tunsil, an offensive tackle out of Ole Miss. His enormous size and great athleticism made him one of the most sought after players in the draft, and he was even projected to go first overall. Unfortunately, Tunsil’s life went from a high to a low after his Twitter was hacked just minutes before the start of the draft.

An unknown hacker succeeded in breaching Tunsil’s Twitter account and posting a disparaging video of the first-rounder about 15 minutes before draft time. In the video, Tunsil appears to be wearing a gas mask connected to a clear tube containing an illegal substance. With the current NFL drug policy, this behavior left a negative impression on most general managers and dropped Tunsil to becoming the thirteenth overall draft pick as selected by the Miami Dolphins. The video was confirmed to be about four years old, but its job to hurt Tunsil in the draft proved to be effective. By being selected thirteenth overall rather than in the top five as was predicted, Tunsil has lost an estimated $7 million in salary over the course of his NFL career. The average career length of an NFL offensive linesman is just over three years, meaning Tunsil would be losing about $2 million per year all because of the untimely posting of this video.

Another awkward situation is presented as the Miami Dolphins have to address the behavior of Tunsil. While this may not seem like much, the player has been involved in various scandals as of late, including taking money from Ole Miss coaches, and being sued by his stepfather. Although he is one of the top prospects in the NFL, Tunsil comes with his downsides and the Dolphins must tread carefully with such an individual.

The cause of the hack as well as Tunsil’s rocky history are all currently under investigation by various organizations.

-Team PhishTrain