Last NFL Draft Pick Receives Honors, Too

The NFL Draft may be over now, but sports fans continue to discuss the nuances and details of the big event. Should Mario Williams have been the first pick? Is Reggie Bush going to be one of the greats? Whatever, whatever. Let's not forget about the last pick in the draft - the so-called Mr. Irrelevant. Mr. Irrelevant this year is a wide receiver named Kevin McMahan. McMahan - who is originally from Rochester - played for Division I-AA Maine, and was picked by the Oakland Raiders with the last pick in the seventh round. He'll have to work hard to make the Oakland roster. But, more importantly, he'll soon be heading down to Southern California for a legendary event - in June, he will become the sole honoree at the 31st annual "Mr. Irrelevant Week" celebration in Newport Beach, Calif.It's a five-day event that will honor McMahan for, well, being the last pick in the draft. It all started in 1976, when an ex-football player named Paul Salata put together the first Irrelevant Week as a kind of joke to "do something nice for someone for no reason." Since then, it has morphed into a fairly popular local booster and charity event. The five-day extravaganza will start with a Chamber of Commerce sponsored arrival party. On Day 2, McMahan will visit Disney's California Adventure theme park in Anaheim. The next day, however, is the highlight of the week, as the "Lowsman Trophy" will be awarded (Lowsman, as in the opposite of the Heisman Trophy). There is apparently some kind of sailing regatta on Day 4, and then the week is closed out with a parade on the final day.Now, despite the Mr. Irrelevant title, some recent final picks have in fact made the rosters of NFL teams, and a few have even had a degree of success in the league. New York Giants fans probably know fullback Jim Finn as a key blocker for running back Tiki Barber. The Penn graduate has been a starter for the Giants over much of the past three years. However, those fans may not realize that Finn was also Mr. Irrelevant 1999, as the Chicago Bears took him with the 253rd overall pick.Safety Mike Green (Mr. Irrelevant 2000) was also drafted by the Chicago Bears, and he eventually became a starter. Although he was recently traded to Seattle, Green has notched a respectable total of 400 career tackles. He should continue to earn playing time at Qwest Field. And let's not forget about Mr. Irrelevant 1978, Bill Kenney, who became a Pro Bowl quarterback with the Kansas City Chiefs in 1983. He later went onto a successful career in state politics in Missouri, demonstrating that irrelevance need not be limited to the football field. Anyway, when all this hoopla began thirty years ago, the NFL Draft had a total of 12 rounds, as opposed to the seven rounds it has these days. Mr. Irrelevant was, in fact, even more irrelevant back in the day. So, with fewer picks in the modern draft, there's a better chance that Mr. Irrelevant may indeed become, well, kind of relevant.This year's final pick, McMahan, had a pretty good season last year for Maine. He scored 13 touchdowns and had 59 receptions for 893 yards. He apparently got some attention among pro teams back in September, when he caught a 52-yard touchdown pass in Maine's 25-7 loss to Nebraska. And some real college football fans may recall McMahan's game-winning touchdown reception against Mississippi State in 2004, which gave Maine its first-ever win over a Division I-A school.When Raiders head coach Art Shell was asked to describe his team's draft result (which included Cornell offensive lineman Kevin Boothe in the sixth round), he noted McMahan's height and his speed in the 40-yard dash."The last guy?" Shell said. "He's 6-2, and he can run a 4.4 ? he's kind of exciting."Perhaps he will be exciting enough to find his way into relevance.

Oakland Raiders 2006 NFL Draft Review

1 - Michael Huff, S, Texas (6-0, 204); 2 - Thomas Howard, OLB, UTEP (6-3, 239); 3 - Paul McQuistan, OL, Weber State (6-6, 312); 4 - Darnell Bing, SS, USC (6-2, 227); 6 - Kevin Boothe, OL, Cornell (6-5, 316); 7 - Chris Morris, C, Michigan State (6-3, 299); 7 - Kevin McMahan, WR, Maine (6-2, 196)
Analysis: Kudos to Al Davis for forgetting about making a big draft-day splash and drafting players that can actually improve his team. Huff fills the void left by Charles Woodson in the secondary, and is likely to be a better pro than Woodson. Howard is the pure outside linebacker that the Silver and Black have lacked, and Bing was a productive college player that was among the steals of the second day. McQuistan is something of an unknown, but Boothe was rated by some as possessing first-day talent. Some will question the Raiders' decision to pass up a quarterback in the draft, but with the experienced Aaron Brooks in the fold and the promising Andrew Walter still something of an unknown commodity, that was the prudent approach.
Bottom Line: Looks like the Raiders have re-committed themselves to defense, and their draft day strategy immediately makes them a team on the rise.

Raiders Football Diary

The Oakland Raiders signed veteran cornerback Duane Starks on Thursday, the second former New England defensive back they've acquired this week to bolster the secondary.
Starks was released by the Patriots on Feb. 25 after his lone season with New England ended in injury. He was placed on injured reserve Nov. 10 with a shoulder injury.
The Patriots acquired the 31-year-old Starks in an offseason trade with Arizona last year. He intercepted 25 passes in his first seven seasons with the Baltimore Ravens and Cardinals, but had no interceptions in seven games with the Patriots.
New England had envisioned Starks as a replacement for Ty Law, who left the Patriots after the 2004 season. Baltimore drafted Starks in the first round, 10th overall, in the 1998 draft.
Oakland added Tyrone Poole on Monday. Poole, an 11-year NFL veteran, played the last three seasons with the Patriots but was limited to six games the last two years because of injuries. He played only one game last season, the opener against Oakland, before being sidelined with an ankle injury.
The Raiders were looking for secondary help after cutting ties with Charles Woodson earlier this offseason. Poole will be added to a roster that includes three young cornerbacks in Nnamdi Asomugha, Fabian Washington and Stanford Routt.

Raiders Football Diary

I hate to sound repetitive. I hate to criticize a rare column that tries to be positive about the Oakland Raiders. But I will not relent until the media stop casually dropping lies into articles about the Raiders.From the column in question: “The reality is the greatness of the Raiders has been missing since Al Davis fired Shell and his .586 winning percentage after the 1994 season. Try eight losing seasons since.”Try...getting your facts straight.Question: How many NFL teams have won their division three straight years in this very decade, culminating in a Super Bowl berth? And how do you characterize the greatness of these three seasons as less than what was achieved under Art Shell’s previous tenure, which was indeed solid but did not result in a Super Bowl berth? How? I know how: Because the recent success of the Oakland Raiders does not fit into your worldview or your bias, so you compensate by making insupportable statements that don’t square with the facts.Another question: What kind of twisted math characterizes 8-8 (.500) seasons (1995, 1998 and 1999) as losing seasons? Do facts matter anymore? I guess I now have ESPN's permission to call them winning seasons? After all, if .500 is a losing season, then it is also a winning season. Worst of all, this column does make many good points, both favorable and unfavorable to the Raiders—it did not need to veer into this biased territory, but the author just couldn’t help himself.And that, Raiders fans, is news you almost can't use.

Raiders Football Diary

Art Shell was away from the Raiders for 12 years, but he hasn't forgotten how to look at the world through silver and black colored glasses.
After more than a month of being hidden away at the team's practice facility, Shell met with the assembled media at the NFL owners meetings in Orlando for his first extended interview session since the press conference announcing his hiring on Feb. 18.
Shell appeared at ease and was clearly enjoying his return to the job Al Davis took away from him following the 1994 season. The Raiders, 13-35 over the past three seasons, are at the low point in the Davis era, but you'd never know it from talking to Shell.
When asked about the major challenges facing the Raiders, Shell said calmly, "I don't think there are any major challenges."
He parted with very little actual hard information, choosing to talk in generalities regarding his confidence and optimism of getting the Raiders back on track.
Shell said his team's motivation won't come from the coach as much as it will from the won-loss record.
"They're embarrassed about what happened," Shell said. "Nobody likes to lose. Deep down, all the players want to win. Ninety-nine percent of them want to win. And those are the 99 percent I want to be involved with. That other percentage that doesn't understand what it takes to win or doesn't want to win and want things to be status quo, then we won't have those players on board as we go forward."
Part of the plan is to keep depth charts and personnel dilemmas in private.