The party for the last pick in the NFL draft may go on the road, the woman in charge of the fundraiser said Thursday as she was in Pittsburgh for this year’s event.
“Some of the teams are interested in bringing Irrelevant Week to their city,” said Melanie Fitch, the CEO of Irrelevant Week, which usually occurs in June in Newport Beach. Fitch is in Pittsburgh for the NFL draft and expects to meet with Commissioner Roger Goodell on Friday.
Some NFL team executives have shown some interest in having the Irrelevant Week festivities in the city of the team that made the last pick in the draft, Fitch said.
“Then we would have Irrelevant Week in their city and align it with their fans and programs and help them with the development of the programs they have,” Fitch said. “It’s an interesting idea. He would be celebrated where he would be playing.”
For now, the Denver Broncos hold the 257th, or last, pick in the NFL Draft.
“So far, (Broncos General Manager George Paton) likes the idea of the last pick,” Fitch said.
But the team has three picks in the last round and might bundle them together to move up, she said.
“But as of now, they’ve been telling us they like it,” Fitch said. “But we always bring a generic jersey if they trade it and it’s Arizona or some other team.”
Fitch said she “lived in Denver almost eight years and I like Denver, so it will be fun to celebrate with them if that’s the way it goes.”
One of the more fun activities in Irrelevant Week includes surfing lessons for Mr. Irrelevant, so if the event goes mobile, the organizers will have to come up with something unique to that city, Fitch said.
“The surf isn’t that good in Denver, so I’d have to figure that out,” she said with a laugh. “We could take him whitewater rafting in Colorado.”
Fitch said she has met a great deal of friendly Steelers fans while in Pittsburgh. She said a business owner in the area praised the way in which the event led to repaving of the streets and other improvements.
Last year’s Irrelevant Week was a memorable one as organizers celebrated 50 years of the event, she said. It raised $150,000. “It was a strong year,” she said, adding that 22 past Mr. Irrelevants attended. “It was a cornerstone year.”
Fitch keeps in touch with many of the former last picks in the draft. “Brock Purdy’s mom calls me periodically,” she said of the San Francisco 49ers quarterback. She said she saw Purdy at the Super Bowl.
“A lot of people wanted his autograph, which is fun,” Fitch said.
One fan asked Seattle Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold — a fellow USC alum — to sign a Purdy jersey.