And what is the The NFL Draft Red Carpet? It’s the NFL’s version of The Oscars Red Carpet, or the one that I am on at The Night Of 100 Stars Oscars Party in Beverly Hills. Like this talk I had with the legendary Jon Voight:
It’s a great vehicle for the NFL to activate media to promote the cornerstone of its brand, its players, and in this case, the league’s future stars, like Robert Griffin III and Ryan Tannehill:
The NFL also has had celebrities like Jillian Michaels (The Biggest Loser) and Anthony Mackie (Captain America) on the NFL Red Carpet, as was the case here:
And Chris Meloni, then of Law and Order, stopped by:
But that was in 2011 and in 2012. In 2013 the NFL seemed to de-emphasize the Hollywood celebrities and pushed more NFL celebs like Phil Simms and Barry Sanders and Willie Brown. But there was a bit of a catch: the movie Draft Day was being filmed with the 2013 NFL Draft, and The NFL Red Carpet, as a backdrop. So that brought in actors like Frank Langela and Kevin Costner.
I’m not sure about the Hollywood types for 2014, but I do know we have more college players than ever.
Here are the names:
Odell Beckham, Jr., WR, Louisiana State
Blake Bortles, QB, Central Florida
Teddy Bridgewater, QB, Louisville
Ha Ha Clinton-Dix, S, Alabama
Jadeveon Clowney, DE, South Carolina
Brandin Cooks, WR, Oregon State
Kony Ealy, DE, Missouri
Eric Ebron, TE, North Carolina
Mike Evans, WR, Texas A&M
Kyle Fuller, CB, Virginia Tech
Jimmy Garoppolo, QB, Eastern Illinois
Justin Gilbert, CB, Oklahoma State
Ra’Shede Hageman, DT, Minnesota
Timmy Jernigan, DT, Florida State
Cyrus Kouandjio, T, Alabama
Cody Latimer, WR, Indiana
Marqise Lee, WR, Southern California
Taylor Lewan, T, Michigan
Khalil Mack, LB, Buffalo
Johnny Manziel, QB, Texas A&M
Jake Matthews, T, Texas A&M
Jordan Matthews, WR, Vanderbilt
Morgan Moses, T, Virginia
C.J. Mosley, LB, Alabama
Calvin Pryor, S, Louisville
Greg Robinson, T, Auburn
Bradley Roby, CB, Ohio State
Ryan Shazier, LB, Ohio State
Jason Verrett, CB, Texas Christian
Sammy Watkins, WR, Clemson
That list could translate into a bigger slate of players that may be around for the second or the third day of the draft – in other words, we’re going to get those players that dropped out of the first round. I certainly hope I’m wrong, because it’s not fun to see a person go through the experience of being told they were going to be a first round pick, only to watch their slide become a side drama on television.
Stay tuned.
Bill Carroll