Oklahoma WR Dede Westbrook backs Joe Mixon after RB's NFL combine ban

INDIANAPOLIS -- Dede Westbrook took a deep breath before answering the question:

How does he feel that he's at the NFL scouting combine and former Oklahoma teammate Joe Mixon was not?

After all, Westbrook was arrested twice on family violence charges before enrolling at Oklahoma, and the fact he wasn't convicted in either case wouldn't necessarily preclude the NFL from barring him as it did Mixon, who entered an Alford plea to a charge stemming from his videotaped punch that broke a woman's jaw and cheekbone in 2014.

"The way I feel about that -- what Joe did, of course I don't approve of it," Westbrook said during his media session Friday.  "But he was young, and things happen. And I also feel that Joe sat out a year, he was excluded from all team activities, he was completely off the team for a whole entire year, and so I felt like he paid his debt to society. He did community service hours, a ton of them, and for him to come back and then they not allow him to come to the NFL (combine) -- this is just a big job interview. And for him not to be here after he'd done his time and served whatever it was he had to serve, I don't think that's right.

"But as for me, I got in some trouble and I did some things as well, but I was never convicted of anything. Like, I've been to jail, but all the charges (were) dropped. I have no pending charges or anything. So, I think I'm just like you."

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The Tulsa World reported in December that Westbrook was accused in 2012 of throwing the mother of his two children to the ground and in 2013 of biting the same woman's arm and punching her in the face. Charges were dropped in the first case, and dismissed in the second when the woman didn't appear in court. Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops said background checks during the recruiting process didn't turn up the arrests, and Westbrook became a Heisman Trophy finalist for the Sooners last year.

The exclusion of Mixon, Baylor receiver Ishmael Zamora, Ole Miss quarterback Chad Kelly and receiver Damore'ea Stringfellow, among others, has been a controversial subject for NFL teams, who would like the opportunity to answer character questions about those players at the combine. There also are complaints about perceived inconsistencies in how the NFL is applying a policy instituted last year that bars players with certain issues in their past from participating.

Westbrook said Friday he wasn't concerned he wouldn't be invited.

"I'm a firm believer in faith and I believe in God and I pray every night and that's what I believe in," he said.

He also acknowledged teams are asking him those questions, which he says he answers by "just being honest, explain to them what happened in 2012, 2013 and what happened May of 2016," when he was arrested on a criminal trespassing charge.

Asked directly if he ever committed assault in those cases, Westbrook said: "No. Never."

A staff member then ended Westbrook's session, as others also began to wrap up around him.

Follow Tom Pelissero on Twitter @TomPelissero.

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