What a night!
After a full day of analyzing, predicting, judging, tubthumping, and finally, drafting, night one of the NFL Draft is over! Both Nickschwager and I attended the draft as members of the media for Battle Red Blog, and we spent the entire day producing as much draft content as we possibly could. This was both our first draft experience, and it’ll be one to remember, particularly because of the sheer size and immensity
of the entire event.
Normally, approaching the north shore either instilled within me feelings of anticipation (for a baseball or football game) or relaxation (spending time with friends, and family there, or taking pictures of the waterfront), but this draft created a third emotion: overstimulation. Upon entering the…Draft Industrial Complex that is formerly known as the North Shore…your senses are bombarded from every direction. Music carried through jam-packed streets, full of football fans marching, conversing with one another, all in a direction towards the sports Mecca that has become the draft stage.
Approaching the draft stage, similar to approaching the sun, was an equally painful experience as it was liberating. Every step closer elevated your body temperature, until eventually you felt like you were on fire and sweating from every pore of your body once you had made it to the stage. Finally, the moment had come for the Houston Texans to put their money where their mouth is and find the last piece to their Super Bowl puzzle. Who would it be? DT Kayden McDonald? OG Olaivavega Ioane? Maybe even…WR Makai Lemon? Well, before we even approached Houston’s eventual draft position of #26, Nick and I had media availability time with several of the players drafted earlier in round 1:
The first to arrive was LB Arvell Reese, newly minted as the New York Giants’ next star on defense. As he sat down on the podium, a wave of arms, cameras, and smartphones surged from the floor to get a good shot of Reese, while he just sat there and absorbed the moment, knowing his life had just permanently changed. As simple as this moment may look here, it’s something that will stick with me for a long, long time. After all of the hype, the draft was here, and it was soberingly real.
Next up came a flurry of stars, none of which I was remotely prepared for as I was still recovering from being starstruck by Reese. CB Mansoor Delane, LB Sonny Styles, and RB Jeremiyah Love all appeared, answered questions, and left in a flurry while I was barely keeping up with getting footage. The speed of the whole operation was certainly surprising to me, but the players themselves were candid, honest, and more willing to go into detail when answering questions than I expected. Love, for example, was deeply appreciative of the Arizona Cardinals drafting him, proud of his roots in Notre Dame, and described a sense of responsibility he felt to continue to improve the reputation of NFL running backs.
Soon afterwards, the Texans pick arrived, even a little earlier than expected since they traded their 28th overall, 69th overall, and 167th overall picks to the Buffalo Bills in exchange for the 26th overall and 91st overall picks. With the 26th overall pick, Houston selected Georgia Tech OG Keylan Rutledge. One of the most consistent and entertaining interior linemen of the draft class, “Big Red” fits into Houston’s new offensive line as potentially a new starting center. Battle Red Blog’s Michael Peterson would go on to say of Rutledge:
A tough and rugged guard who proved his worth going from a mid-major program to Power 4 and finishing his career as a First-Team All-American. Rutledge is scheme-independent but would thrive best in a zone-blocking scheme where he can combo with his center and tackle to throw defenders out of the club.
Unfortunately, he was not present at the NFL draft, but KPRC2’s Aaron Wilson was able to interview Rutledge virtually shortly after being drafted by the Texans, and he had this to say about potentially playing center:
At the very end of the night, once many members of the media had clocked out for the night, the Chicago Bears first round pick, S Dillon Thieneman took the stage for questions. Finally, my chance to actually ask one of these guys a question had finally arrived…and I blew it. I had a folded up piece of paper filled with solid questions I had just written down before he arrived, and once I was handed the microphone, my mind completely went blank and all I could think to ask was, “How does it feel to be a Chicago Bear?” Disaster. Definitely my first time at the rodeo, but thankfully, Thieneman saved me with an introspective response on how the reality of it all hadn’t really settled within him yet:
Thank you so much to Dillon Thieneman for saving me in my time of need…
One thing that taking all of these photos, shooting videos, fumbling around awkwardly with wires and cameras, making a lot (and I mean A LOT) of mistakes, the biggest takeaway I had from an experience like this is that, even with all of the spotlights, shuttering cameras, and intensity of the moment, these players were still just normal people. Just like the reporters they were taking questions from, they were still just absorbing the reality of being selected by an NFL team, and actively processing all of those emotions as they stepped onto the dais. We spend all of this time analyzing their strengths and weaknesses, worry about who fits best on what team, and finding out what players are the real “players”, but at the end of day, they’re all still just people, working through the emotions of a world-changing night.
That was my first day at the 2026 NFL Draft summed up, and boy was it a doozy. Nick and I will continue to report from the Draft for day 2 and day 3, so stay tuned to Battle Red Blog for more exclusive content!
Go Texans! Go Big Red!
