NFL Draft was a success in KC — with one exception involving the Chiefs’ first pick
Felix Anudike-Uzomah walked into the Chiefs practice facility Saturday and put on a particular jersey for the first time — white mesh with 13 red letters, two numbers and one hyphen stretched across the back.
His name.
His number.
He grew up here, a Lee’s Summit High graduate, a big enough Chiefs fan to wake up early for the Super Bowl parade three years ago and the owner of plenty of Chiefs items in his wardrobe.
This item, of course, was different.
“Sometimes I just think to myself,” he said. “’Am I dreaming?’”
How would you feel if the week you had been envisioning for a decade came to life?
But as Anudike-Uzomah stood at a lectern Saturday for his first news conference as a member of the Chiefs and recapped all of the pinch-me instances of the past week, what became most clear is he missed out on the most memorable one of all. One he would’ve jumped at, if only he had the opportunity, he said Saturday.
That moment? A stroll across the monstrous NFL Draft stage standing in his hometown, with 100,000 fans there to witness the biggest occasion of his football life. With 100,000 fans to cheer the biggest occasion of his football life, and not as simple courtesy.
Instead, Anudike-Uzomah sat at home as he got the call from Chiefs general manager Brett Veach. All of 25 miles away.
Anudike-Uzomah missed out.
Kansas City missed out.
The NFL, too.
The NFL snubbed him on the invite, and in turn they snubbed a moment they might literally never have the chance to replicate — a prospect being drafted in the first round ... by his hometown team ... with the draft practically in his backyard. Oh, and he went to a local college, to boot. When will that happen again?
Image the eruption as he walked across the stage.
Imagine.
Because it didn’t actually happen.
I get that Anudike-Uzomah was not a slam dunk to be selected in the first round, and the NFL extends the invites to only those who are projected first-round picks. In fact, Anudike-Uzomah averaged somewhere in the mid-40s on most mock drafts, though I’ll point out that Herbie Teope pegged him to the Chiefs in The Star’s first mock draft.
But who cares anyway? It was obviously possible he could get selected in the first round, which would have made for a possible celebration regardless of which NFL team made the pick. Even if it had been the Eagles or the Ravens or whomever else, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell would’ve announced Anudike-Uzomah as a Kansas State prospect and could’ve announced him as a Kansas City kid, too. A fine story, too.
The NFL often gets the green room predictions just plain wrong anyway. It’s not as though they went 17 of 17 this year, and Anudike-Uzomah would have represented an outlier. Four of the 17 invited prospects did not go in the first round at all, and three were so upset with it that they took their ball and went home. (They had other excuses for not returning, but come on.) The final two, Alabama safety Brian Branch and Georgia Tech edge Keion White, went picks Nos. 45 and 46. So if the NFL is handing out invites based purely on projections, well, apparently 29 guys got snubbed.
In the end, what would’ve been the harm?
Is it that if you invite a guy projected to go somewhere around 45 that you have to 44 others?
Because, no, you don’t. And if you’re pointing out that this column is therefore asking for special treatment, you’re right. It most definitely is. It’s OK to make a special case for an NFL prospect who might go first-round if he lives just 25 miles away, because, dang it, what a freaking moment that could be.
Or is this based on a fear of potential embarrassment? That almost certainly played into quarterback Will Levis’ unexpected draft-night fall, but would the cameras have really been locked on Anudike-Uzomah in the green room considering he was not a consensus first-rounder? Did we need to see his reaction as the first 20 picks came and went without his name called? No.
And if he whiffs on the entire first round, as opposed to flying home, as Levis did after the night, Anudike-Uzomah could drive a mere half hour and sleep in his own bed. He knows he’s potentially a Day 2 pick. Inform him of the uncertainty, and let him decide. He would come.
Don’t believe me?
I asked him Saturday. His reply is what prompted the timing of his column a week later.
“Yeah, I would have still gone to the draft — because it’s in Kansas City, and that’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience to go to the green room and everything like that,” he said. “So I would definitely take that (opportunity) — and my parents would have definitely wanted me to take that opportunity, too.”
A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
Oh, well.
Maybe next time.
You know, the next time a prospect is drafted by his hometown team ... in the first round ... with the draft taking place half an hour down the street.
Next time.