I did not watch a single minute of the second day of the NFL Draft, and, no, not because I knew Pat McAfee, who long ago red-lined the Annoying Meter, was going to present the Colts' second-round pick. That was just sheer luck.
No, I didn't watch because, basically, I wasn't really on pins and needles to see if the Vikings, with the 82nd pick in the 2026 NFL Draft, would take Domonique Orange from Iowa State, whoever he is. Or if the Jaguars, with the 100th pick in the 2026 NFL Draft, would take Jalen Huskey from Maryland, whoever he is.
(No offense intended to either Domonique and Jalen. Guys, I just picked your names at random. But if you become stars in the NFL, now you can each say, "People said I would never make it. Including some dumbass in Indiana.")
Anyway ...
On with today's Draft-y thoughts;
* The Indianapolis Colts, with the 47th pick in the 2026 NFL Draft, traded down to the 53rd pick. According to Gregg Doyel of the Indianapolis Star, who was paying far more attention than I was, this apparently got all the Colts fans riled up and calling for GM Chris Ballard's head again -- especially when the Jets scooped favorite son D'Angelo Ponds of Indiana with the 50th pick.
Instead, the Colts wound up with linebacker C.J. Allen from Georgia. People say he's pretty darn good. I guess we'll see.
* Speaking of the Colts, and Pat McAfee, he apparently was as strange as ever, calling the Colts the "Kings of the AFC South" and saying weird stuff about how Jim Irsay cured Daniel Jones' torn achilles from heaven.
Watching the clip later on, however, I did notice Pat was dressed for the occasion. Wore pants and shoes and a shirt -- collared, even! -- and a sport coat. He wasn't wearing a tie, but, hell, neither did Roger Goodell on opening night.
In fact, McAfee actually looked spiffier than the commish. Which frankly ought to be the story of the entire draft by my lights.
McAfee Out-Dresses Goodell. Film at 11.
* And speaking of the story of the draft ...
I guess it's still the fact the Los Angeles Rams used their first pick -- and the 13th overall -- to snatch quarterback Ty Simpson from Alabama.
This despite the fact they still have Matthew Stafford, the reigning NFL Most Valuable Player, at the head of the table in their quarterback room.
This despite the fact Rams head coach Sean McVay didn't look all that pleased to welcome Simpson aboard, which suggested it was GM Les Snead who made the call.
This despite the fact McVay then went out of his way to say the Rams were still Matthew Stafford's team, and that, fine, OK, now we've got Ty Simpson, but he's going to be competing with Stetson Bennett for the backup spot.
The day-after spin from Snead and the Rams' organization is that Snead and McVay were definitely on the same page, and that the reason McVay wasn't turning cartwheels over the Simpson pick was because he didn't want to show the rest of the league how excited he was.
I can't tell you exactly how many people bought that. But a good guess would be "no one."
So what were the Rams thinking?
Beats me. Maybe they were looking at Stafford, who's 38 now, and noting how quickly quarterbacks (except for Tom Brady) tend to fall off the table once the years starting piling up. Or maybe they see Simpson is future trade bait if beats out Stetson Bennett for the backup spot.
"Or maybe they just made a really dumb pick," you're suggesting now.
Oh, come on. When has THAT ever happened?
* Kinda surprised to see Carson Beck, who quarterbacked Miami to the national championship game before falling to Indiana, fell to the first pick in the third round. The Cardinals picked him. They also picked a 6-5, 315-pound offensive lineman from Texas A&M, Chase Bisontis.
This suggests the Cards don't intend to just be Jeremiyah Love and a bunch of guys. Or Jeremiyah Love running for his life from three hundred bazillion dudes on every snap.
* Know who got drafted yesterday?
IU running back Kaelon Black, who went to the 49ers with the 90th overall pick. And Notre Dame tight end Eli Raridon, whom the Patriots snatched with the 75th pick.
Total regional bias here, but I think both teams got one of those mid-draft gems Mel Kiper Jr. and the gang are always yakking about. That especially goes for Raridon, if for no other reason than Notre Dame seems to grow NFL tight ends like velvet leaf.
Anthony Fasano. Kyle Rudolph. Michael Mayer. Cole Kmet. Tyler Eifert before the injuries took him down. And if you want to go back some, Dave Casper and Mark Bavaro, among others.
That's a heck of a bloodline. Maybe the Patriots noticed.
I mean, they're the Patriots. They would.
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