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Enjoy the benefits of Irrelevance
Published 6:00 pm Wednesday, May 2, 2018
<p class="p1">If I could give Trey Quinn one suggestion at the moment — which admittedly would be advice he neither asked for or needs — it would be to embrace this whole Irrelevance issue.</p><p class="p1">For the moment, at least, just grin and bear the “Mr. Irrelevant” tag.</p><p class="p1">They mean no harm nor ridicule.</p><p class="p1">The former Barbe High/LSU/SMU wide receiver expected he would go in the middle rounds of the NFL draft.</p><p class="p1">Instead, he went toward the end — well, actually, the very end.</p><p class="p1">In fact, the draft officially ended (some would say mercifully) when the Washington Redskins made Quinn the 38th pick of the seventh round, the overall No. 256th and undeniably and reliably, absolutely, positively final selection of the whole affair.</p><p class="p1">That earns you that tag “Mr. Irrelevant,” a tradition (like no other?) that began in 1976 and which is officially endorsed and sanctioned by the NFL.</p><p class="p1">Well …</p><p class="p1">Sure, it gets a few chuckles.</p><p class="p1">But for one thing, it could have been a lot worse.</p><p class="p1">Of the 106 college players this year who, like Quinn, passed up their final year of college eligibility, 36 of them — a tad over one-third — never heard their name called, went undrafted.</p><p class="p1">But none of them led the entire NCAA with 114 pass receptions last season.</p><p class="p1">So, for now, maybe it feels like a stigma. Maybe that awful new-age verb “disrespect” comes into play.</p><p class="p1">Fine.</p><p class="p1">“There’s a big chip on my shoulder and you’ll see it on me, but I’m excited,” Quinn told Washington-area media shortly after being drafted.</p><p class="p1">Good attitude… as if this guy ever needed extra motivation.</p><p class="p1">No one has ever doubted his work ethic — he’s the football version of a basketball gym rat.</p><p class="p1">The most common reference to Quinn and the “honor” he stumbled onto is that he doesn’t seem to fit the mold of the stereotypical Mr. Irrelevant.</p><p class="p1">So there’s that. Washington coach Jay Gruden called him a “very exciting product.”</p><p class="p1">Quinn added, “I’m about to walk around with an even bigger chip on my shoulder. I earned everything that I’m about to receive and if people don’t want to give me the credit for things that I’ve done, I’ll just have to keep on doing them.”</p><p class="p1">Whatever works.</p><p class="p1">But that doesn’t mean he can’t have a little fun with his irrelevance first. And he may not realize all that he is about to earn.</p><p class="p1">They come not to mock, but to celebrate, and Party On they do.</p><p class="p1">Mr. Irrelevant was born in 1976 out of the playful mind of a former NFL player, Paul Salata, and his mission statement, as the website so eloquently quotes him, is that “It’s not a negative to be picked last in the NFL Draft; rather, it’s an honor to be drafted at all. The last draft pick’s demonstration of perseverance is lesson that resonates not only with NFL players and fans, but also with people everywhere.”</p><p class="p1">Several precincts of learned football minds have already checked in to opine that Quinn may be the most relevant Mr. Irrelevant in recent memory.</p><p class="p1">For that matter, the latest Mr. Irrelevant is kind of, well, irrelevant to the organization’s original charter.</p><p class="p1">In 1976 the draft had 17 rounds. There were 28 teams then, but still, the original Mr. Irrelevant, Kevin Kirk of Dayton, was the 487th pick, by the Steelers.</p><p class="p1">In the sense, Quinn almost did go in the first half of the draft.</p><p class="p1">The No. 256th pick of that season was Art Stringer of Ball State, who played five seasons in the NFL after being drafted by the Houston Oilers.</p><p class="p1">Yes, this year 255 players were drafted ahead of Quinn.</p><p class="p1">But none of them will have an entire week’s festival dedicated to celebrating their perseverance, their determination and mostly where their number happened to come up in the football lottery.</p><p class="p1">It’s the social event of the year in Newport Beach, California, and they have quite a shindig planned, all of which will benefit this year’s charity of choice.</p><p class="p1">According to the literature, Quinn “and his quests” will be “feted with a weeklong series of events” and “is the toast of an Arrival Party welcoming him to town, where NFL fans and the local community come out in force to cheer the player and shower him with gifts from businesses and patrons near and far.”</p><p class="p1">And that’s just the beginning.</p><p class="p1">There’s a trip to Disneyland, of course, along with a trip to be interviewed at the NFL Network studios and a drop-in on this year’s benefitting charity. He’ll also be the guest of honor at (his choice) either a Dodgers or Angels baseball game (where he can tell them about the time he threw a no-hitter in the 2008 Little World Series, the big one, in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, for the South Lake Charles all-stars).</p><p class="p1">It all leads up to the grand banquet, described as “an evening gala that gives past and present sports stars and celebrities a chance to roast and toast the newest member of this exclusive club.”</p><p class="p1">It’s topped off by the presentation of the … well, the trophy could be a problem for Quinn.</p><p class="p1">It’s called the Lowsman Trophy — get it? a play on the Heisman — and it greatly resembles its alter ego … except the familiar player is fumbling the ball or dropping a pass (it’s hard to tell which).</p><p class="p1">That certainly doesn’t represent the sure hands that got Quinn drafted.</p><p class="p1">But keep in mind that it’s all in fun.</p><p class="p1">And he might want to hold on to that trophy. It could fetch a pretty penny on “Pawn Stars” one day.</p>
<p class="p3"><strong>Scooter Hobbs</strong> covers LSU athletics. Email him at shobbs@americanpress.com