At the end of the fifth round, the Cowboys pick flashes on the screen. It’s a different linebacker, LSU’s Damone Clark. X now knows for sure that Dallas won’t be picking him. He thinks they are set at the position. Every time a linebacker gets picked, he gets a little more anxious. He knows he’s better than them, but he notices that most of them are taller, and he knows that teams prioritize size.
His godbrother becomes convinced that Baltimore is going to be the team to take him, because X visited the Ravens and the godbrother thinks X plays a lot like Ravens linebacker Patrick Queen. X starts thinking it’s going to be the Colts instead, because he visited them and they haven’t yet taken a linebacker.
With the ninth pick in the sixth round, Detroit takes X’s teammate, a linebacker who was invited to the combine and put up 36 reps on the bench press at their pro day. OK, maybe now it’s my time, he thinks.