Road to draft: Emotions flow when dream finally comes true
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3
NFLDraftScout.com followed Aaron Curry's road to the NFL from the combine to his pro day workout to the '09 draft in April. This is the last in a four-part series.
The Hollywood script that is Aaron Curry's life took a dramatic turn April 25 when NFL commissioner Roger Goodell announced that the Butkus Award-winning linebacker was selected by the Seattle Seahawks with the fourth overall pick of the 2009 draft.
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| The Seahawks expect Aaron Curry to be starting opposite LeRoy Hill as a rookie. (AP) |
Once drafted and his media obligations finished, Curry kept tabs on where his former teammates and the friends he had met at Athletes Performance Institute landed before exploring New York with his family.
• Seahawks draft grades: A from Rang | B- from Prisco
The following day he flew to Seattle along with his mother, Chris Curry, and fiancée Jamila.
Curry was introduced to the Seattle media the day after the draft and didn't have much time to worry about his suit for the initial press conference. The Seahawks held a post-draft minicamp only four days later.
"It was weird. I've watched those press conferences when a player is drafted or signed as a free agent and he is holding up the jersey. It was weird sitting in between [general manager Tim] Ruskell and [coach Jim] Mora and holding up the jersey. It was like, 'Wow, welcome to the NFL.'"
Curry said his real "Welcome to the NFL moment" wasn't then -- he'll wear No. 59 just like he did at Wake Forest -- in New York or facing the Seattle media for the first time.
"No, the real 'Welcome to the NFL moment' didn't happen until the first day of minicamp. Then, they threw me in with the starters and said, 'Just play.'"
Seattle is counting on Curry to step in as an immediate starter next to star linebackers Lofa Tatupu and Leroy Hill. Curry showcased his versatility in coverage by tipping a pass early in his first practice.
Later, he was sent off the edge to rush the passer. Pro Bowl quarterback Matt Hasselbeck faked the handoff and dropped back to pass. Curry didn't buy the fake and showed his rare acceleration to the ball, ultimately "tapping" Hasselbeck for a sack.
"They probably would've sent me home if I'd hit him," Curry laughed.
Curry's new football destination is a long way from his hometown of Fayetteville, N.C. And the final drive in his "Road to the Draft" actually began days before the event. Curry, his family and two new friends, Bryson Merriweather and Bryson's father, Ace, arrived in New York.
Just as he had promised a month earlier to "bring a kid with me" if invited to New York, Curry asked Bryson, a 12-year-old leukemia survivor he met at St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tenn., to experience the draft process with him.
While the Merriweathers aren't likely to soon forget the experience, Curry seemed to be the one most moved.
"It was heartwarming to see Bryson having so much fun. The first night there we went to the Empire State Building and then we went to ESPN Zone and Niketown. Bryson was given a shopping spree at Niketown and that was one of the highlights of the whole weekend to see that. Later he and his father ... went on a helicopter tour of the entire city."
Curry would have liked to have joined them, but he had a few other things going on -- not the least of which was learning about the NFL's "special phone" operation.
• Bleacher Report: Defensive Rookie of the Year within Curry's reach
Few moments provide better reality-TV drama than when the cameras locate players on their cell phone as teams are about to announce their selection. Moments before Goodell actually announced the Jets had drafted quarterback Mark Sanchez, the move was already being reported based on Sanchez's excited reaction to what he was hearing on the "special phone."
The league provided a cell phone this year for each of the 10 invited players. Placed on the tables in which the players and their families were assigned, they had numbers which had been circulated to all of the teams. Unlike the player's cell phones, which could go off at any moment with a call from anyone, these would only ring if called by NFL teams. Players knew that when their "special phone" rang, it was a call they didn't want to miss.
Draft day is an anxiety-filled experience for the players. No one wants to be immortalized as the next Aaron Rodgers or Brady Quinn. Curry felt comfortable with the reports he had heard from his agents and the media -- that he was a lock to go very early. But there were some anxious looks when a player not invited to the draft, LSU defensive end Tyson Jackson, went to Kansas City with the third pick, where many had projected Curry to wind up.
With nerves fraying, Curry and the rest of the players looked to each other to keep the tension light.
"That was one of the cool things about being invited to the green room is that the league has us sitting in tables with our families and friends, but we're able to look across the room and lock eyes with the other [prospects]," said Curry. "We were all exchanging funny looks, making everybody laugh, keeping everybody in a good mood.
"The whole thing was just amazing. To get a chance to hang out with the all of the guys, Matthew [Stafford], Jason [Smith], both Brians [Cushing, Orakpo], both Michaels [Crabtree, Oher] and all the others as we sat together with our families and waited for that phone call that would change our lives."
That moment came shortly after the Chiefs took Jackson, when Curry's special phone rang. The voice he heard was Mora's, and Curry's eyes welled with tears.
"When I got that phone call, everything got very emotional. Everyone was there. There were 20 of us or so and to get that phone call with my mom and my family next to me, it was like, 'We made it.' It was one of the better moments of my life."
Rob Rang is a Senior Analyst for NFLDraftScout.com, distributed by The Sports Xchange.
