An Awkward Surprise of the NFL Draft

The top pick overall in Thursday's NFL draft went pretty much the way everybody expected. One part of the televised night was a surprise, however: Kentucky quarterback Will Levis did not get picked by any team in the first round. ESPN had given him a 92% chance of being in the top 10, and Yahoo Sports notes that he was the betting favorite to go No. 2 overall. Which is why the cameras were on him all night as pick after pick went to someone else, with his girlfriend and family members offering comfort. "It’s painful to watch a kid go through that on live TV," observes Chris Branch at the Athletic.

At Yahoo, Dan Wentzel writes that Levis is merely the latest victim of the "NFL's peculiar draft hype machine." In this case, some unfounded internet buzz on Reddit earlier this week raised false hopes of him going No. 1, per the New York Post. The best guess is that concerns over a toe injury Levis suffered this year made teams wary. Whatever the reason, he is widely expected to go somewhere in Friday's Round 2, and plenty of people are pointing out that none other than Tom Brady was pick No. 199. (More NFL draft stories.)