Brock Purdy and the upside of being called the NFL’s ‘Mr. Irrelevant’
With some decent numbers on his CV, it may well be that the San Francisco 49ers picked a talented player even if he was last in the 2022 NFL Draft.
Irrelevant is not a word that carries positive connotations and even less so when describing a person, but as the the last pick in the 2022 NFL Draft the young quarterback has been called just that, except maybe he’s not.
Quarterback Brock Purdy is this year’s ‘Mr. Irrelevant’
With the 2022 NFL Draft now concluded, countless reports have been written about who went where, who traded for who and over course what can we all expect to see when the 2022 NFL season gets underway later this year. Yet perhaps there is one story that may have been glossed over and that’s the tradition associated with the 262nd - that is to say the last - pick in the draft or as the player has been traditionally called since 1976, ‘Mr. Irrelevant.’ In this year’s NFL Draft, that ‘honor’ fell on the shoulders of quarterback Brock Purdy who hailed from Iowa state. Purdy was finally taken in the 7th round of the Draft as the No. 262 pick overall by the San Francisco 49ers.
Interestingly, Purdy’s number’s aren’t actually that bad and let’s not forget that first or last, being drafted into the NFL is an incredible honor for any young football player. At 22 years old, the former Cyclones quarterback had a 67.7% pass completion rate, with a total of 12,170 yards, 81 touchdowns against 33 interceptions in the 46 games he played during his four years with Iowa State University. Interestingly, the rookie is actually the first quarterback to be selected last in an NFL Draft since the Denver Broncos picked Chad Kelly back in 2017. As for his future team, the 49ers were happy enough to support their new signing with a tongue in cheek post on social media.
Is there an upside to being the NFL’s ‘Mr. Irrelevant?’
While the infamous nickname isn’t necessarily the kind of thing you want to be called, the reality remains that there are actually some perks. There is in fact an award for the position known as the ‘Mr. Irrelevant Award.’ Created by the late Paul Salata - a former NFL player - the intention was put a better spin on the term. “We established Irrelevant Week to drive home an important message – that it’s not a negative to be picked last in the NFL Draft; rather, it’s an honor to be drafted at all,” Salata once said. “The last draft pick’s demonstration of perseverance is [a] lesson that resonates not only with NFL players and fans, but also with people everywhere.”
What happens during Irrelevant Week? The player is taken on a trip to Newport Beach, California, where among other things they then visit Disneyland, attend a charity event as well as media events. Interestingly, there has been a ‘Mr. Irrelevant’ who has seen success in the past. In 2021 Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ placekicker and a former ‘Mr. Irrelevant Ryan Succop was on the right side of history as the Bucs defeated the Kansas City Chiefs to become Super Bowl Champions. Perhaps there is hope for Purdy yet!