The NFL Draft is upon us. It’s not just a two-day festival once known so understatedly as the "NFL Player Selection Meeting,” but a four-month odyssey that has become one of the major sports unto itself, alongside the NBA and MLB.It begins, really, the day a team’s season ends in the fan’s mind—and sometimes sooner depending on how bad the season was. And then it’s the Combine, the college Pro Days, the individual workouts, combined with the rhetoric and bluster from agents, the misinformation and smokescreens thrown out by the teams, and fans’ insatiable desire to know which players are going to come in and save their team. It is incredible what a two-day “selection meeting” has become.
And when it’s over, nobody—not fans, media or the teams themselves—actually knows for sure what they have. Not for 2-3 years will those answers begin to emerge, but that doesn’t stop every media outlet far and wide from offering instant analysis and judgment. It’s their job, and the fans want it. So keep the machine cranking—there’s another mock draft to post in 10 minutes!
Over the course of 13 NFL Drafts as a media relations executive with the Denver Broncos, quite a few memories come back to me this time of year, mostly about the individuals who came and went as a result of those drafts. There were years we selected a whopping 12 players (1996 and ’99) and a year we chose only three (1997); a year when our first pick didn’t come until round four (1995), and two when we were finished by the end of that round. Some of the highlights:
--As far as personalities and commanding presence, I’ll never forget the day we first laid eyes on Al Wilson, a day after the linebacker was made our first-round choice in 1999. He was joining a two-time defending champion, and looked like he could step on the field that day and be the leader of the defense. In his press conference we learned that he had been a boxer as a teenager, and I’m not sure there was a person in that room who didn’t picture the poor victims he had likely pummeled and wondered how—or if—they had survived the beating.
--For pure entertainment value, nothing tops the choice of Ohio State running back Maurice Clarett in 2005. At the time there was hope his talent could be harnessed in “the right environment,” but this one was over almost before it began. Two memories: One was knowing we were about to select him with the final pick of day one (3rd round/101 overall), and strolling into the media room to watch the reaction from our assembled media. As a story they would love him—but maybe about four hours earlier. Not right before deadline with their stories already written and waiting for a nondescript name to add to the pile and call it a night. The collective groan and spewing forth of expletives said it all. The other memory came the next day when Clarett was asked to hold up his jersey at the podium for the overflow media crowd before his introductory press conference. Broncos VP of PR—and my former boss—Jim Saccomano instructed Maurice to “smile like you mean it.” He did smile, and was generally pleasant to deal with that day, but to say that was his best performance as a Bronco would not be a stretch.
--The 1998 selection of Michigan quarterback Brian Griese gave us our first glimpse of how self-assured he was, having grown up the son of a Hall of Fame quarterback. For starters, he did not arrive in Denver the day after his selection with fellow first-day choices Marcus Nash and Eric Brown, I think for no other reason than he just wasn’t in that much of a hurry. He came in on Monday, and I remember after he was finished with his press conference and the rest of the dog-and-pony show, I went searching for him to put him on the phone for one more interview. I found him in the office of offensive coordinator/QBs coach Gary Kubiak—no doubt having probably memorized a good portion of the offensive playbook by that time—sitting at Gary’s desk. To say he looked comfortable would be a colossal understatement. Heck, he looked more relaxed sitting in Kubes’ chair than…well, Kubes himself ever did. To this day I have the utmost respect for Brian as both a player and person, and I recall thinking at the time that he is a not guy who is in awe of any part of this experience. It’s tremendous to see him entering his 12th NFL season and to see what he has done with his life’s mission to help children with the establishment of Judi’s House in Denver.
--Finally, in 2000, after we had begun to notice the run of alliteration we had going with consecutive selections of Kenoy Kennedy, Chris Cole, Jerry Johnson, Cooper Carlisle and Muneer Moore, the streak was broken with the choice of Utah running back Mike Anderson. As an attempt at humor, then-GM Neal Dahlen offered to the media, with a smile, that Mike’s real first name was Andy. To which one of the beat writers responded incredulously, “Really?” Again, the draft can be a mind-numbing experience.
If only it had been true, because the next selection was Jarious Jackson.
--Paul Kirk / www.prolinksports.net
--Paul Kirk / www.prolinksports.net
