FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — It’s Day 3 of the NFL Draft, I’m here in the media workroom at Gillette Stadium, and sometimes a random behind-the-scenes thought comes to me.
That’s part of the reason this space was created, to take you behind the curtain at times, so here goes …
It was Day 3 of the 2010 NFL Draft and I had papers scattered around my laptop and was scurrying to come up with some names of players I thought could be good fits for the Patriots. On Twitter, I mentioned Washington defensive end/outside linebacker Daniel Te’o-Nesheim.
There was only one problem: He had already been selected — third round, Philadelphia Eagles.
I had missed it late the night before, as the pick came late on Friday during the three-day draft. It was a sloppy but also somewhat understandable mistake given the volume of players in the draft and the overall timing.
A notable, humorous response came from Michael Lombardi, the longtime NFL front-office man who at the time was working in the media but now is in his third season as an assistant to the coaching staff in New England.
It went something like this: “Can’t be making those types of mistakes in the draft room!”
Now, this wasn’t as bad as predicting 61 catches for receiver Greg Salas in 2012. But it’s something I always remember on Day 3 of the draft, and before tweeting any projected targets for the Patriots.
Mike Reiss 