LANDOVER, Md. -- Standing in the end zone of his new home field, Derrius Guice continued to try and outrun a tough opponent over the past two weeks: his past.
Guice said being drafted by the Washington Redskins provided him a clean slate, even as questions about possible incidents lingered.
"Everything that is behind me is behind me," Guice said at the Redskins draft day party at FedEx Field. "This is a fresh, clean slate. I'm just ready to get to work."
There have been a few things to put behind him, which might explain why he fell to the second round -- the 59th choice overall.
Some of those issues have been known: Guice said during an interview earlier this offseason with SiriusXM NFL Radio that a team asked him if he was gay and that another club asked if his mother "sells herself."
The NFL investigated the matter and did not find any evidence of teams asking inappropriate questions.
"Our response to that is it's all behind me," Guice said. "The combine was two months ago. I just got drafted by the Washington Redskins. I'm just ready to get to work."
There were reports Friday of an incident that happened during a meeting with the Philadelphia Eagles and running backs coach Duce Staley, with whom Guice said he had a "great relationship."
Eagles president Howie Roseman on Saturday said he wasn't aware of any incident.
"There was no altercation here, in this building, that any of us are aware of," Roseman said. "I don't know where that report came from, but I can speak for everyone in here that nothing like that happened here in Philadelphia.
"There was no altercation. When you hear the word altercation, it sounds like fisticuffs or something, or yelling or screaming. I don't know I've ever been in a room where a player has yelled at anyone. Sometimes you can't believe everything you read or hear."
That was Guice's message as well, his voice straining to be heard as the Redskins' fight song played in the background.
"They didn't just go off rumors," Guice said of the Redskins. "Just to see a team not let rumors and stuff like that affect their decision to bring me in, I have to give my all to these guys. They changed my life, they believed in me, they trusted me. Just much respect for those guys."
Guice was widely projected to be drafted in the late first or early second round. Most experts viewed him as the No. 2 running back in the draft behind Saquon Barkley. Instead, Guice was the seventh running back chosen.
Still, he's expected to start at running back for the Redskins.
"We don't know where everything came from," Guice said. "It just kind of happened right as the draft went on. It's just one of those things I can't control. ... No one wants to hear their name be slandered like that."