Why watch the NFL Draft? Chewbacca, a parrot and Winslow, Arizona
Apr 23, 2018, 1:09 PM
(AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
(AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
The NFL will milk all the energy out of even the most passionate fans during the 2018 NFL Draft.
A three-day draft process is all about TV ratings, but after the first, second and third rounds, admit it: Who cares if your team drafts a long snapper from Hobbins County Community College?
So to get you to tune in, the league is making the fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh rounds about the pick-making — not the players picked.
The Arizona Cardinals, for example, are heading to Winslow, Ariz., on Saturday, the third and final day of the draft. They’ll make three picks, the first of which will be from Standin’ On the Corner Park, named after the lyrics from the Eagles’ song, “Take It Easy,” a 1972 hit single that referenced the small Arizona town.
Winslow’s mayor, Robin Boyd, and the Winslow High School football team will announce the final two picks.
Other NFL teams are getting wackier with their third-day draft selections.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ fourth-round pick will be delivered to the team’s pirate ship by a parrot named Zsa Zsa, which led to a hullabaloo on Twitter.
*rrrahh!* Ricky Aguayo. *rrrahh* Florida state kicker. *rrrahh* pic.twitter.com/BRCECllqHj
— Alex B. Smith Sports (@axsmithsports) April 23, 2018
But, Greg, it's gonna be so fly. pic.twitter.com/1inNiB6Jyb
— Tampa Bay Buccaneers (@Buccaneers) April 23, 2018
— Gayle Saunders (@EagleSessions) April 23, 2018
Star Wars characters R2-D2 and Chewbacca will be present to — somehow — make the San Francisco 49ers’ picks.
Locations of other picks include atop an aircraft carrier (Baltimore Ravens), at Niagara Falls (Buffalo Bills), in London (Jacksonville Jaguars) and at a curling club (Minnesota Vikings).
It might be hard for any scenario to top last year, when the Indianapolis Colts had an orangutan making the pick announcements.
