A few draft day memories, in no particular order:
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1. Talking on a conference call with center Cory Raymer, who sounded as if he, um, had had a couple beers before talking to us — his family was having a draft day party. Can’t imagine an OL from the midwest having a beer on a Saturday.
2. Talking to Chris Cooley as he drove out west on his cell phone. Kept breaking up, which even he joked about. The reception was horrible. I think he was driving to Utah. This happened the day after he was picked; Washington selected him in the third round, but was not expecting to have a pick. The Redskins traded a future pick to get the third-rounder; most reporters had left Redskins Park because we’d been told nothing was going on. Shame on us.
3. Having a guy like Justin Tryon boast that he could get every return to the 50-yard line, or something like that. I like Tryon and he worked really, really hard to improve last year. But that was comical.
4. The trades by Charley Casserly in his final draft in 1999, when he orchestrated it to get Champ Bailey. He knew it would be his last draft and he still set up the franchise with two future No. 1’s. Nice work.
5. Now for the Steve Spurrier section. It’s a long one. There is a somewhat clouded memory of this, but it’s splitting hairs. During his first draft, he was in the media room talking to reporters — he was a good guy — and he looked up at the TV screen. The Redskins were either on the clock or about to make a pick and his reaction? “Guess I’d better go!” The head coach was not involved.
6. The Redskins made a huge mistake putting Spurrier out in front of the cameras after the pick. They drafted Robert Royal and Spurrier went to the podium, pulled out Royal’s bio and started reading from it. Didn’t know anything about him. Saw how many passes Royal had caught in college (59) and said, “I guess he can catch the ball.” Later, they picked Andre Lott, a safety from Tennessee — who had played in the same conference as Spurrier’s Gators. So he would have gone against him – and he was on defense! But Spurrier knew nothing about him. And he snapped at a reporter who couldn’t believe this was the case.
7. Fred Smoot. Just because.
8. Reading a draft guide that described Rob Jackson’s running style as waddling. I was expecting to see a duck on the field, but, alas, he ran quite normal.
9. We used to get the coach or GM and then the position coach after every pick. For a long while now, we only get the coach or GM after the first pick and maybe after the second and then not again until after the draft.
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