I love the NFL Draft and not just because I'm a football fan. It's exciting to see these young men, whose college careers you've followed for years, have their dreams come true and learn a bit more about them before they're thrust onto a world stage that could make or break them. It's especially exciting when a guy from my team — the University of Georgia Bulldogs — hears his name called. And for what it's worth, 13 of them did this year. Go Dawgs!
Admittedly, this year's draft was a bit annoying because one young man overshadowed everything else, and I'm not actually blaming him. I've never seen the media cover a 5th-round 144th overall draft pick like they did Shedeur Sanders. I have my opinions, but I'm not here to say anything good or bad about Sanders. Growing up in Atlanta, I was a huge fan of his father, Deion, who played for both the Atlanta Falcons and the Atlanta Braves, and I still am, but ever since he became the head football coach at the University of Colorado, the media coverage has been obnoxious and over-the-top.
And that same obnoxious media coverage continued into the draft. Unfortunately, it overshadowed some other young men who are are a bit more humble and had lot more to lose if they weren't drafted. I know football players often have a bad reputation, but I truly believe that more good comes from the sport than bad — it's just that the bad gets the most attention. With that in mind, here are a few of the young men whose stories I would have rather heard more about.
Derrick Harmon (Pittsburgh Steelers)
I'll keep this one brief because I wrote a whole article about him on Saturday (you can read more about him here: Top NFL Draft Pick Experiences Heartbreaking Loss Hours After His Selection), but Derrick Harmon is a strong young man in many ways. Last Thursday night, he achieved something only 32 men do each year: becoming a first-round draft pick in the NFL. A couple of hours after the Pittsburgh Steelers called him, he went to the hospital to tell his mom, Tiffany, the news. He also told her goodbye. She died shortly after his arrival.
Tiffany had suffered from a lifetime of health issues that led to her requiring numerous brain surgeries. In 2022, she had a stroke that left her partially paralyzed. Harmon stepped up for his mom in a big way. The Detroit native chose to play football at Michigan State so he'd be close to home, and almost missed out on some big opportunities when he had the chance to transfer to Oregon his senior year. He didn't want to move too far from his mom, but he said, "she told me every decision I made up to this point was for her, and it's time to make a decision for myself."
Even better, when a reporter asked Harmon in December what he spent his name, image, and likeness (NIL) money on, his response was as far from the flashy cars, jewelry, and gadgets that many of these young players buy as you can get. He bought his mom a wheelchair-accessible van.
SPECIAL PERSON: Derrick Harmon says that he used his NIL Money last year to purchase an accessible van for his mom after she had a stroke
— MLFootball (@_MLFootball) April 25, 2025
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Harmon went to the hospital last night to tell his mother, who is in a coma, that he was drafted to the #Steelers pic.twitter.com/ZuhzVVf8TJ
Jack Bech (Las Vegas Raiders)
Jack Bech and his older brother, Tiger, were best friends. Both young men played football. Tiger was a wide receiver and punt return specialist at Princeton but went on to work in finance. However, almost every weekend during last year's football season, he would fly from New York to Texas to watch Jack play ball at Texas Christian University. He couldn't wait to watch his little brother play in the NFL.
During the early morning hours of Jan. 1, 2025, Tiger was in New Orleans, ringing in the new year, when a terrorist drove a truck into the crowd. Tiger reportedly died trying to save the lives of others. The Bech family was devastated, of course, and no doubt, Jack was missing his brother when his name was called in the second round of the draft on Friday night, making him an official Las Vegas Raider. Earlier this year, after catching the game-winning touchdown in the Senior Bowl, Jack said that he'd give it all up just to hug his brother again.
What a story. Tiger Bech was one of the young victims tragically murdered by the New Orleans New Year's attacker. Now, his brother Jack Bech just got drafted to the NFL.
— George (@BehizyTweets) April 26, 2025
pic.twitter.com/kmuPJT0Z0g
One of the inspiring stories in the 2025 NFL Draft: TCU WR Jack Bech, whose brother Tiger was killed in the New Orleans terror attack, goes No. 58 to the #Raiders. pic.twitter.com/vlguStgs8r
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) April 26, 2025
Demetrius Knight (Cincinnati Bengals)
One of the older guys in the draft, Demetrius Knight played at Georgia Tech and the University of North Carolina at Charlotte before eventually transferring to the University of South Carolina. His move to the SEC was an opportunity to showcase his talent and gain more recognition from the pros, but it was also the break he needed to support his family. Knight is married and has a young daughter, and while he watched his teammates spend their NIL money on extravagant things, he used his to pay for food, a sensible family car, rent, and other necessities for his family. But it wasn't enough.
Knight wanted to make sure his baby never went hungry or wanted for anything — he said he learned quickly how expensive formula is — so when he wasn't in class or on the football field, he was delivering food as a DoorDash driver to make a little extra cash. Sometimes, he'd even play in a game and come home and go to work. You can hear him tell his story here — he sounds like quite a humble and mature young man.
Inspirational: Bengals 2nd-round pick Demetrius Knight Jr. was a DoorDash delivery driver in college to support his family and keep his dreams alive of making it to the NFL.
— Dov Kleiman (@NFL_DovKleiman) April 27, 2025
Knight would drive for DoorDash after games and at night to support his family.
The Bengals drafted a… pic.twitter.com/85i6AAt064
Cam Ward (Tennessee Titans)
As far as I know, Cam Ward hasn't gone through any sort of major life tragedy, but by all accounts, he has a good head on his shoulders and is an extremely hard worker. Ward, who played football and basketball in high school, wasn't heavily recruited by colleges and only received one scholarship to play at the University of the Incarnate Word in San Antonio. He accepted it graciously but went to work to prove he was meant for bigger things.
Ward won the Jerry Rice Award as the most outstanding freshman in the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision that year and eventually landed a spot as the starting quarterback for the University of Miami. His hard work paid off. Last year, he was the ACC Player of the Year, won the Manning Award, and came in fourth in Heisman Trophy voting. And this year, he was the first overall pick in the NFL draft. Despite all of his success, he couldn't control his emotions when his name was called.
Miami QB Cam Ward is emotional after being selected 1st overall in the 2025 NFL Draft @espn pic.twitter.com/MVTPlKhGqQ
— Molly McGrath (@MollyAMcGrath) April 25, 2025
This picture speaks a thousands word.
— 🅲🅷🅴🅲🅺🅼🅰️🆃🅴 ♟️🇭🇹 (@its_Rona_J) April 25, 2025
I’m so happy for Cam Ward ! He deserves it. Very humble kid. pic.twitter.com/7QJifFGgXr
Congratulations to all of these young men. I hope they remain humble and hard-working and go on to have successful careers.
