Give Vikings general manager Rick Spielman for his honesty. When asked this week about character risks and how the Vikings assess them heading into the start of the NFL draft tonight, he said (in part) this:

"Whether it's fair or not, the less talented [a player is] and the more red flags [he has] probably the more likely [he is] going to get a red dot because is [his] talent worth the headache? The higher [a player goes] up the draft board, you're really going to do your diligence because you're saying those guys are potential difference-makers on your team. They can help you win or lose games."

That quote was part of Mark Craig's excellent look at the issue in general and one player specifically: Joe Mixon, the Oklahoma running back who broke four bones in a woman's face when he punched her. Mixon was suspended for the 2014 season. Video later surfaced of the awful incident.

Teams are trying to decide where Mixon lands on their sliding scale of morality — the somewhat ugly but realistic general philosophy that the more talented a player is, the more a team is willing to put up with. Players who get a "red dot" from the Vikings are considered undraftable.

We all make risk-reward decisions in our lives. The Vikings have made risk-reward decisions in the draft that have paid off big-time: taking Randy Moss in 1998 and (to a lesser degree) Percy Harvin in 2009. Everson Griffen, a fourth-round pick in 2010, was a great example of a player who had off-field troubles and fell in the draft as a result. Griffen was even arrested in the offseason following his rookie year. But he has used his second chance to become a great player and a leader, while avoiding trouble for several years.

Are the Vikings really willing to take on another former Oklahoma running back with incredible off-field baggage just as they shed their roster of another? (Fittingly, Mixon and Adrian Peterson are pictured together above at Oklahoma's spring game earlier this month).

Maybe they are. That said: the sliding scale of morality shouldn't apply to Mixon — an idea we also discussed on this week's Access Vikings podcast. We're not talking about a player with a questionable work ethic or attitude. We're not even talking about Laremy Tunsil's bong video from last year. With Mixon, we're talking about indisputable video evidence that he punched a woman in the face.

That's not to say there is no such thing as a second chance. It is, however, to say this: you can't decide you won't take Mixon in Round X but decide you would take him in Round Y if he starts to fall. You either somehow make peace with what he did, or you don't.