Mr. Irrelevant is the nickname given to the final selection of the NFL draft, the last player chosen in the seventh round.
Where It Comes From
The tradition began in 1976, started by former NFL and college player Paul Salata. The idea was to give the least heralded player of the draft a moment of recognition rather than let the last pick pass unnoticed.
The honoree is invited to Newport Beach, California, for Irrelevant Week, a set of festivities that includes a parade, a golf outing and a banquet. He receives the Lowsman Trophy, a deliberate parody of the Heisman: where the Heisman depicts a player stiff-arming a tackler, the Lowsman shows a player fumbling the ball.
The Pick Itself
Because compensatory selections are appended to the end of the seventh round, the exact number varies year to year. It is usually somewhere around 257 or 262.
Brock Purdy Changed the Joke
Most players taken last never appear in a regular-season game. Then San Francisco used the final pick of the 2022 draft on Brock Purdy, an Iowa State quarterback. He became the 49ers’ starter as a rookie after injuries ahead of him, took the team to a conference championship game, and has started since.
His success made the title something closer to a talking point than a punchline, and it is now cited whenever a late-round quarterback gets a chance.
Related
How many rounds · How the draft works · Brock Purdy stats
The Bottom Line
The last pick of the draft, a tradition since 1976, complete with a week of festivities and a trophy of a player fumbling. Brock Purdy is the reason people take it seriously now.