Every year, college players from across the nation have their lifelong dream fulfilled. The NFL Draft brings excitement, joy and hope for the elite college players. Even the underrated players will have a shot to play in the big league as many players enter the league as undrafted free agents. Some elite players that were undrafted include, Kurt Warner, Antonio Gates and “Night Train” Lane. This year’s draft was pretty predictable although there was a huge uproar concerning one player and his use of social media.
The Los Angeles Rams held the first pick in the draft. In desperate need of a quarterback, their pick was most likely between Jared Goff from Cal or Carson Wentz from North Dakota State. The Rams chose the 21 year old, Jared Goff with the No. 1 overall pick. Followed by Goff, Carson Wentz went to the Philadelphia Eagles, Joey Bosa went to the San Diego Chargers and Ezekiel Elliott went to the Dallas Cowboys.
As a New Orleans Saints fan, I was very happy with their picks. They had the 12th pick in the first round. They selected, Sheldon Rankins from Louisville. Rankins is a 300 pound, defensive tackle that will make an automatic impact on the atrocious Saints defense. With their second and third pick, the Saints pick college teammates, wide receiver, Michael Thomas and safety, Vonn Bell from Ohio State. Thomas will most likely become an instant starter, replacing Marques Colston. Bell will most likely back up Jarius Byrd, but could easily become a starter later in the year.
Despite all the excitement before the draft, a very unusual incident took place just minutes before the draft. Laremy Tunsil was projected to be the third overall pick and was not supposed to drop further than the sixth pick. However, minutes before the draft, a disturbing video of him was posted on his Twitter. Tunsil and his agent claimed that his social media was hacked at that the video was of him from two years ago. Tunsil’s draft stock plummeted and was picked 13th overall by the Miami Dolphins. This video cost Tunsil nearly $13 million.
This incident goes to show that nearly everything is either seen or videotaped. I loved analyst, Jon Gruden’s thoughts about the situation.
“This whole social media scene makes me sick. If you’re a young kid out there, put away your Twitter accounts if you want to be a pro football player. We live in a glass house these days.”
Phillip Christopher, ’17 agrees that the video hurt Tunsil’s draft stock. Young teens should learn from this because anything can get leaked.
“I think it’s crazy how the video was posted minutes before the draft,” Christopher said. “Young teens should take this seriously. They shouldn’t think that they are better than anyone else. Any picture or video can get leaked and hurt your career.”
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Obviously this was not Tunsil’s intentions when he made the video. We live in a world that if you do something embarrassing, it will end up on social media. My advice is to think about whatever you are doing, and think how it will effect you in five years.
Many players will be working hard to make a team. Along with the drafter players, expect teams to contact undrafted players and give them a shot to play.
For a full list of the draft, read: NFL Draft Tracker.
For last weeks sports column, read: World of Sports: Injuries plague top NBA playoffs.
This author can be reached via Twitter: @nick_leblanc1 and via email: Nick LeBlanc.
