It’s been more than two decades since Ryan Hoag celebrated being the last pick in the NFL draft in Newport Beach as Mr. Irrelevant, but he said Thursday he’s happy to be part of the Irrelevant Week activities as it marks its half-century of existence.
“I’ve been to 10 or 12 Irrelevant Weeks,” Hoag said as he made the rounds at this year’s draft in Green Bay with Melanie Fitch, the CEO of Irrelevant Week.
“They continue to invite me back — they treat me like family,” he said.
He joked, “Anytime you spend 30 minutes with Melanie it’s interesting… All I have to do is call her pretty, amazing, and she puts me in front of a camera.”
Hoag, who does pre-game and post-game radio reports for the Las Vegas Raiders, the team that picked him last in the 2003 NFL draft when it was based it Oakland, said the annual draft “is the one time of the year I become relevant.”
Last fall, Hoag lived in Newport Beach but now resides in Montana and in Las Vegas during the football season.
Hoag said with the expected crowds of hundreds of thousands in Green Bay that it’s “good that Green Bay has enough bars to satisfy 200,000 people.”
He was looking forward to “catching up with old teammates,” and during the interview he was driving with a mentor “ESPN host who broke me into broadcasting.”
Hoag said Irrelevant Week was a special time for him.
“First and foremost I look back at that time as the best week of my life,” he said. “And I consider Melanie and extension of my family, and I think she’d probably say the same thing.”
Fitch said this year’s Irrelevant Week will be special as the organization marks its 50th Mr. Irrelevant.
“We’re inviting several former Mr. Irrelevants because the 50th year is such a cornerstone,” Fitch said.
The most well-known Mr. Irrelevant, 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy, has been invited, Fitch said. An invitation has also been extended to 2009 Mr. Irrelevant, Ryan Succop, the most successful of the Mr. Irrelevants before Purdy as a kicker who played on the Super Bowl champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2021.
Hoag said he hopes the NFL continues to embrace Irrelevant Week as it carries on founder Paul Salata’s mission to spread kindness.
“The whole genesis of Irrelevant Week is doing nice things for no good reason,” Hoag said, adding that’s important “especially in this landscape we live in now… Professional sports needs this because when we hear about the NFL in the off-season it’s because of some knucklheaded decision somebody made. I love that this is something people can find a reason to cheer for someone.”
Hoag said Irrelevant Week “also does a good job of highlighting student athletes from small schools.”
Hoag noted also that being the last pick in the draft now gives a player more of a chance than it did many years ago when there were more rounds and more players picked.
And though Hoag never played in an NFL game he played a valuable role on the practice squads helping his teammates get ready every week. And he did that for the Raiders, New York Giants, Minnesota Vikings, Washington Redskins and Jacksonville Jaguars.
Former Vikings Coach Mike Tice nicknamed Hoag the “tempo violator,” because of his penchant for “always going full speed” during scrimmages.
“I would always go so hard the defense would get mad,” he said. “I figure if I can’t play on Sunday I’m going to find a way to get noticed on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.”
Hoag recalled how he considered it a “badge of honor” putting on the jersey of Hall of Fame wide receiver Terrell Owens and running his routes to help prepare his teammates to face him in a big game.
This year, the Kansas City Chiefs have the last pick in the draft, Fitch said. But it’s up in the air if they’ll keep it or trade it away, she added.
So Fitch has a Chiefs jersey for the next Mr. Irrelevant, but also has a “generic” black and white one just in case.
Last year, Irrelevant Week raised $120,000 for local charities, Fitch said.
“That is really good for us,” she said.
This year, the Orange County Youth Sports Foundation will be a recipient, she said.
“They do great programs, and scholarships for student athletes,” she said. “And we can see it going directly to the cause.”