— There were 320,000 people in a parking lot in Pittsburgh Thursday night, watching the NFL Draft. League has hit the jackpot, moving the draft around the country every year.
Few years ago, I was going to go to Las Vegas and watch the draft there, but then I checked the hotel prices- they were tripled for that weekend, so I passed that up.
Roger Goodell does an excellent job running the first round; he doesn’t wear a tie, laughs every now and then. Easy to laugh when you make $40M a year, I guess, but he seems like a good guy.
— Why wasn’t #1 pick Fernando Mendoza at the draft? He was at home in Florida; you would think he’d be at the draft or at least in Las Vegas, but he was in Florida with his family.
Last time the Raiders won a playoff game, Fernando Mendoza hadn’t been born yet.
— Draft is three days long: first round was Thursday, rounds 2-3 are Friday night, rest of the draft is Saturday afternoon.
— Chose to watch the draft on ESPN; can’t deal with NFL Network’s Rich Eisen, who I find annoying. He went to Michigan; he must’ve been thrilled when four of the first 11 players taken were from Ohio State.
— Last five years, six Ohio State wide receivers have been drafted in the first round.
— Famous birthdays, April 24th:
Shirley MacLaine, 92
Barbra Streisand, 84
Eric Bogosian, 73
Ernie Grunfeld, 71
Michael O’Keefe, 71
Bill Krueger, 68
Dino Radja, 59
Melinda Clarke, 57
Chipper Jones, 54
Carlos Beltran, 49
Welington Castillo, 39
Konnor Griffin, 20
— League picked up the pace with the draft, cutting the time between picks from 10 minutes down to 8 minutes.
— Rams picked Alabama QB Ty Simpson with the 13th pick, making him the heir apparent to future Hall of Famer Matthew Stafford, when he retires, hopefully well down the road. Simpson is the son of a college football coach; he has only started 15 college games.
— New England coach Mike Vrabel won’t be with the Patriots on Saturday for the third day of the draft, his wrist getting slapped publicly for his recent off-the-field drama.
— Chicago Bears drafted a defensive player in the first round for the first time since 2018.
— Movie of the Day: Draft Day (2014)- At the NFL Draft, General Manager Sonny Weaver has the opportunity to rebuild his team when he trades for the number one pick. Does he do what he thinks is best, or do what everyone else thinks is best?
Kevin Costner is the GM of the Browns, Denis Leary is the coach, Jennifer Garner is the team’s salary cap guru. This is the movie that started the league moving the draft around the country; they delayed the draft in 2014 to promote the movie, and Radio City Music Hall was unavailable for the later date, so they moved the draft somewhere else, hitting paydirt in the process.
There were eight trades during the draft Thursday:
— Buffalo traded back THREE TIMES, acquiring a few extra picks for the next two days.
— 49ers traded back twice, with Miami and the Jets.
— There were two trades that involved division rivals, which is unusual; Cowboys-Eagles made a deal where Philly moved up to draft WR Makai Lemon from USC
Patriots-Bills also traded; New England drafted an offensive lineman from Utah.
— Jets used the #2 pick in the draft on a defensive lineman; they had only 26 sacks last year, the fewest they’ve had since 1999.
— Chiefs lost two defensive backs this winter, one in a trade, one as a free agent; they traded up with Buffalo, drafted a cornerback from LSU.
— Dolphins banked two 5th-round draft picks for falling back only one pick; they traded the #11 pick to Dallas, which drafted a safety from Ohio State.
