As you can imagine, teams are under an enormous amount of
pressure to get things right during each year’s draft. This is particularly true on the first day,
and the first round, when the stakes are the highest: the biggest talent is up for grabs, with the
biggest salaries to boot. For the teams
at the bottom of the standings, the draft is the chance to build for the future;
for the more dominant clubs, it’s an opportunity to wheel and deal to maximize
their chances for continuing success.
Of
course, for the players waiting to be drafted, every minute that goes by
without your name being called is a fresh cup of cold water threatening to
drown your dreams. With so much at
stake, you’d better believe there’s always a good chance for fireworks—and smoldering
duds. So, in anticipation of the start of the 2012 NFL draft tonight, I thought we'd take a look at some less-than-stellar moments in recent draft history.
2003 NFL
DRAFT: THE VIKINGS RUN OUT OF TIME
With so much riding on the early moments of the draft, you’d
think that each club’s management team would be a well-oiled machine on the
first day—ready for anything and leaving no room for error. For the most part, that’s the case. There have been a few “oops” moments in draft
history, however, and today we’ll look at one of the most notorious—and entertaining.
In the 2003 draft, Minnesota had the seventh overall pick,
and had their eyes on a defensive tackle from Oklahoma State, Kevin Williams. As their turn neared, management realized
that Williams was still going to be available a few picks later. So, they started shopping their seventh pick,
hoping to find a team that was willing to pay to move up in the draft order. When deals with two other teams didn’t pan
out, the Vikings agreed to a deal with the Baltimore Ravens: in exchange for Minnesota’s No. 7 pick,
Baltimore would give them its first round pick (at No. 10), as well as fourth-
and sixth- round picks.
Even with the clock ticking, all deals have to be submitted
to the league for approval before they’re official. The Vikings got their submission in, but the
Ravens didn’t before the Vikings 15-minute clock ran out. So, when no one from the Vikings submitted
the team’s selection, the two teams at the 8 and 9 spots (Jacksonville and
Carolina) ran to the commissioner’s podium with their draft selections before
the Vikings were able to recover and turn in theirs—which still turned out to
be Kevin Williams. The Vikings head
coach at the time, Mike Tice, insisted that they got the player they wanted all
along, so no harm done.
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| NFL officials wait for the selection from Vikings director of pro personnel Frank Acevedo |
Minnesota’s fans should have brushed this off as just one of
those things—if only another blunder hadn’t happened the year before. Ironically, the blunder then was the Vikings’
inability to take advantage of another team’s failure to get its pick
submitted in time. In 2002, the Vikings once
again had the seventh pick. The Dallas Cowboys
had the No. 6 pick and the Kansas City Chiefs had the eighth pick. Dallas and KC made a deal to swap picks so
that Kansas City could grab defensive tackle Ryan Sims, who they knew was the
Vikings’ top choice.
However, before Kansas City could pass the trade on to
league officials for approval, their time ran out. As the Vikings approached the podium with
Sims’ name on their draft card, their guy was blocked by an assistant equipment
manager for the Chiefs. The Vikings were
foiled, and ended up drafting offensive tackle Bryant McKinnie, who had a
decent career (on the field anyway; his off the field antics were less than
admirable), playing for the team for nine years.
FALLING OUT OF FAVOR
Every year, the NFL invites the top draft prospects to Radio
City Music Hall for the draft. These (presumed)
future stars are treated like royalty in the Big Apple for the week leading up
to Draft Day—public appearances, photo ops, glad-handing with advertisers, and
plenty of wining and dining. This year,
a staggering 26 players have
accepted the NFL’s invitation to attend.
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| Dolphins center Mike Pouncey's bling on Draft Day |
On the first day of the draft these players, dressed in
their best suits and newly-purchased pricey watches, take up residence in the
draft “green room,” a curtained-off area behind the main stage. Each player gets a table with his entourage—family,
friends, “advisors” and, of course, his agent.
As each player’s name is called, teary hugs and handshakes abound and a grinning
mass of man strolls to the stage, wearing a cap with his drafter’s logo; he then
holds up his new club’s jersey as he smiles for pictures with the NFL
commissioner.
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| Cam Newton, 2011's No. 1, with the Commish |
For a few players over the years, however, the green room
experience has been less than ideal.
Every few years it happens—a player who was projected to be selected in
the top ten, or even at Number 1, somehow slips through the cracks and falls
like a stone through the draft. Recent
memory calls to mind two such victims to gravity: Aaron Rodgers and Brady Quinn.
2005: Aaron Rodgers Plummets
NFL scouts were drooling over Aaron Rodgers after his junior
year at Cal (University of California, Berkeley), citing his arm strength and
excellent throwing mechanics. The San
Francisco 49ers, coming off an embarrassing 2-14 season, had the Number 1 pick
in the draft. Having had a void at quarterback
since Jerry Garcia left in 2003, it was widely anticipated that the Niners
would select Aaron Rodgers. However, newly
hired coach Mike Nolan was concerned that Rodgers’ personality wouldn’t mesh
with his and San Francisco ended up taking Alex Smith (who is still with the
team) instead.
Ordinarily, this wouldn’t be an issue for a star player like
Rodgers. Unfortunately for him, the next
several teams had more pressing needs than quarterback. So, down he went—out of the top ten, then
through the top twenty, until finally being rescued by the Green Bay Packers as
the 24th overall pick. All things
considered, Aaron landed in a great situation.
He learned much from shadowing Brett Favre over the years, and has led
the Packers to a championship and set several records.
2007: Brady Quinn Tumbles
Even though he failed to lead the Fighting Irish to a
national title, Brady Quinn had a stellar career at the University of Notre
Dame, accomplishing notable personal achievements. The
Sporting News even rated Quinn the top quarterback in college football in
2006. His impressive stats in his final
year at Notre Dame (3,426 yards, 61.9% completion percentage, 37 touchdowns and
only seven interceptions) earned him a top-ten draft projection and an
invitation to attend the draft.
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| Thomas has had a Pro Bowl career in Cleveland |
Not wanting to repeat the awkward situation of a top
prospect alone in the green room, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell invited Quinn
to wait in his private suite after the tenth selection had been made. Quinn accepted the invitation. Turns out he still had a while to wait. Eventually, the Dallas Cowboys began to look
for buyers for their 22nd overall pick. The
Browns bit, and as soon as the league approved the trade, they snapped up Brady
Quinn.
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| "Um, Mr. Commissioner, your suite's out of Funyuns." |
Unfortunately, Brady’s
career hasn’t quite met expectations. In
Cleveland, he was involved in an awkward, never-ending quarterback battle with
Derek Anderson. He was traded to the
Denver Broncos in 2010, where he remained a backup behind Kyle Orton, then Tim
Tebow in 2011. He was signed by the
Kansas City Chiefs this past March.
MR. IRRELEVANT
Of course, the vast majority of players coming out of
college are not top ten prospects, and wait out the draft in the comforts of
home. For these NFL hopefuls, the draft
is all about waiting for the phone to ring.
One way to pass the time, I’m sure, is to speculate on when they’ll be
picked (if at all), and even if they’ll earn the title of “Mr. Irrelevant.”
The moniker of “Mr. Irrelevant” has been awarded to the last
pick of every NFL Draft since 1976. In
that year, Paul Salata, a former NFL receiver, founded “Irrelevant Week” in
Newport Beach, California. The summer
after his draft, Mr. Irrelevant and his family go to Newport Beach for a week,
where they are feted with a golf tournament, regatta and a roast, among other
events. The player is also awarded the
“Lowsman Trophy”; intended as a spoof of the Heisman Trophy, it depicts a
player fumbling the ball.
One of the more successful Mr. Irrelevants has been Ryan
Succop, who is the starting kicker for the Kansas City Chiefs. In 2009, his rookie year, Succop tied the NFL
record for the highest field goal percentage for a rookie, with 86.2%, and set
the record for the most field goals made by a rookie in team history. He was also the highest scoring rookie in the
NFL, with 104 points.
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| "Call me 'Irrelevant,' huh? Boo-yah!" |
So, should we feel sorry for Mr. Irrelevant? Why?
He gets a week’s vacation, events in his honor, and a sweet trophy. Besides, you know what’s worse than being
drafted last? Not being drafted at all.
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