An NFL Hopeful's Day 3 Draft Journey from Hope to Disappointment to Clarity
Nothing epitomizes the cruelty of the sports world quite like a draft. In a matter of hours, the lives of hundreds of young men are changed forever. Drafts are where millionaires are made at the emotional expense of a group of 20-somethings who inevitably have their dreams crushed.
NFL draft prospect Brandon Bridge became a part of that group when he didn't hear his name called during the 256-pick 2015 draft. The NFL dream isn't over for the South Alabama quarterback, but Bridge will never forget the agony he went through as 32 teams passed on him 157 total times over a 6.5-hour span Saturday afternoon.
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Bleacher Report spent the day with Bridge, as well his friends and relatives. This is what we saw, heard and felt.
12:25 p.m. ET: Only a handful of picks have been made to start Round 4, but Bridge looks as though he's just been through a 12-round fight. Sitting in the living room of the home he grew up in, he says he slept just a couple hours last night.
He knew he wasn't likely to be picked during the second or third round Friday night, so to take his mind off the draft he and his girlfriend, Brandi Smith, went to see the new Avengers movie. The attempted distraction didn't work—Smith says Bridge spent the majority of the film monitoring the draft.
Today, the 23-year-old isn't going anywhere. He's flanked by Smith, a Texan whom he met at South Alabama, as well as his mother, Suzanne, the definition of a matriarch.
In a room adjacent to them, still within view of the NFL Network broadcast, Bridge's friends are slowly filtering in one by one. Bridge is on pins and needles, but the reality is most projections have him being selected in the sixth or seventh round, with some analysts believing he won't be drafted at all. The vibe is positive, but everyone in the house knows they could be waiting for a while.
A few feet from the friends section, Bridge's father, Colin, has set up shop in the kitchen. Barely within view of the television, he's beginning to pace. He says he didn't sleep last night.
"I was nervous because he was nervous," he would later say.
12:40 p.m. ET: Kyle Bridge is equally as tense, but as he sits watching from a stool just off the kitchen, the 26-year-old is doing a good job masking his nerves. We're only about a dozen picks into Round 4, but Kyle—one of Bridge's two older brothers—has already developed viewing habits that will linger throughout the day.
He knows that his brother's cellphone will ring before it is revealed on television that Brandon Bridge has been drafted. So he's not watching for his brother's name on the screen. Instead, he's watching his brother's phone from 15 feet away, and he's doing it at very specific times.
In the living room, Brandon remains relatively stoic regardless of who's on the clock. But Kyle knows there are teams to keep a close eye on. Those who have been frequently communicating with Brandon are obviously on his radar, as well as those who appear to lack depth at the quarterback position.
One team that fits every profile is Indianapolis. When the Colts—who, beyond Andrew Luck, have just 39-year-old Matt Hasselbeck on their quarterback depth chart—select safety Clayton Geathers with their fourth-round pick, he concludes that Indy has to take a quarterback next. And with the draft's top-rated signal-callers—Jameis Winston, Marcus Mariota, Garrett Grayson, Sean Mannion and Bryce Petty—already off the board, he knows that pick could be his younger bro.
1:16 p.m. ET: We're into the second half of the fourth round, and Brandon Bridge has yet to move, let alone speak. Twenty feet away, his dad looks as though he's only feigning interest in the conversations that surround him. Half-listening to small talk, he stares for several moments into his backyard through a kitchen window.
Maybe he's looking at the still-closed pool he might have been opening on this 70-degree spring day, if not for more important events. Maybe he's looking for the same pair of ducks who have spent summers in the Bridge's backyard ever since they moved in over a decade ago. Loonie and Toonie, they call them. They made an appearance Friday but are nowhere to be seen this afternoon.
Or maybe he's just reflecting on the journey that has brought him, his wife and his three children to this potentially game-changing weekend.
The Bridge household doubles as a shrine to the three boys—Brandon, Kyle and 29-year-old Antoine—and their many sports accomplishments. Trophies, medals and plaques on shelves, awards on the walls. To Brandon's left on the couch is a pillow embroidered with images of him, boyhood idol Michael Vick and Steve McNair. It was made for him by a fan to commemorate the two years he spent at Alcorn State, which was also McNair's alma mater.
But the majority of the memorabilia on display at Chez Bridge comes from St. Marcellinus Secondary School, just 300 yards away from the Bridge household in Mississauga, Ontario, a suburb of Toronto. That's where this whole thing truly began. It's where Brandon followed Kyle, where the two became high school sports stars in the Greater Toronto Area, where the two teamed up and eventually earned football scholarships.
That's right, Toronto. This isn't a Texas football story or a Florida football story. This is a Canadian football story, which traditionally hasn't existed when it comes to quarterbacks earning opportunities south of the border.
Bridge, whose draft stock rose considerably during his lone season as a starter at South Alabama before it skyrocketed after a stellar performance at the NFL Scouting Combine, is considered a tantalizingly raw prospect. He doesn't have an extensive Division I resume, and he doesn't come from a football hotbed, but he has a rocket launcher attached to his right shoulder and has defied the odds before.
| St. Marcellinus | Mississauga, Ontario | High school | 2006-2009 |
| Alcorn State | Lorman, Mississippi | Division I-AA | 2010-2011 |
| South Alabama | Mobile, Alabama | D-I Sun Belt | 2012-2014 |
Coming out of St. Marcellinus in 2010, Bridge was slated to join head coach Turner Gill at the University at Buffalo before Gill left the Bulls to coach Kansas. So instead, he went to Division I-AA Alcorn State in Mississippi, where he started two seasons before transferring to South Alabama of the Sun Belt Conference in 2012. He sat the transfer year and served as a backup in 2013 before excelling as the starter in 2014.
He still faces questions regarding his mechanics and accuracy, but he has a lot of upside and arguably the strongest arm in this year's draft class.
He entered this process looking to make history as only the fourth Canadian-born quarterback to be drafted by an NFL team. And although neither he nor his father realizes it, it is this very moment, as the Baltimore Ravens choose running back Javorius Allen 125th overall, when it becomes official that Bridge won't be drafted ahead of fellow Canadian Jesse Palmer, who went 125th to the New York Giants in 2001.
In other words: Bridge won't become the highest-drafted Canadian quarterback in NFL history. Unfortunately, it'll take another five hours for him and his supporters to realize that he won't be drafted at all.
1:40 p.m. ET: Breaking news: Brandon Bridge just got up, presumably for a quick bathroom break. There are limits to being a shadow. But as he and Smith settle in for the start of the fifth round, his mother continues to speculate with the full support of her sister, Mauva, and longtime friends Charmaine and Andrea, all of whom the boys call aunt.
Suzanne has become quasi-obsessed with the bottom of an NFL Network graphic that shows the next 15 teams on deck to make selections. While remarking that she spent less time in labor than she has waiting for her son to be drafted, Suzanne—whom Brandon admits can sometimes feel like a second agent—is listing reasons why teams waiting to be on the clock might go with a quarterback.
The Giants are picking soon, and she notes that Eli Manning is getting up there in age. And when the Dallas Cowboys creep into the crawling graphic, she brings up Tony Romo's balky back, which has been operated on multiple times in recent years. The Cowboys, she rightly suggests, could be a serious hit on Romo away from being in big trouble at quarterback.
The way Colin Bridge sees it, everyone in his immediate family had key roles to play if Brandon was going to make a run at a professional football career. He and Antoine did a lot of the filming and video work, Kyle was the personal trainer and motivator, and Suzanne—who is a sales representative at Pepsi with Mondays and Tuesdays off—handled all of the administrative duties.
She took care of all of the paperwork as Brandon was considering scholarship opportunities south of the border. There are courses in the Canadian curriculum that aren't accepted in the United States, she says, so she had to make sure Brandon was getting the correct credits while also preparing him to take American SATs.
She also did a ton of research on schools, programs and coaches, with all of the tasks coming together to give her a full-time job away from her full-time job. And although, on the business side, Brandon's fate is now in the hands of his agent, Suzanne continues to study the details. She knows every quarterback on every team, and she knows where her son fits in best.
Right now, though, she just wants somebody to give him a shot.
1:50 p.m. ET: Brandon Bridge won't crack a smile, and while she understands why, Camille Mayers thinks it's weird. Camille's been a member of the Bridge family since she and Kyle Bridge started dating about a decade ago, which means she's known Brandon since he was in grade school.
She says that most events at the Bridge household involve a lot of food and a lot of laughter, with Brandon usually in the middle of it all. Right now, there's none of either, and for all intents and purposes Brandon isn't present.
As more friends and family members arrive, a natural seating chart is carved out for the afternoon. Bridge, Smith and Bridge's marketing manager, Wendell Brereton, watch from the living room (let's call it the VIP), while Suzanne, her sister and friends observe from chairs lining the side of the room (balcony seats).
Beyond that is the friend section, which contains chatter regarding almost any potential topic not related to Brandon Bridge (areas covered include the musical talents of guest Redskins pick announcer Wale, Joe Flacco's value as a quarterback, Saturday night's Spurs-Clippers game, weightlifting and a planned sequel for Fifty Shades of Grey).
Finally, watching from the press box well away from the action (i.e. the kitchen) are Colin and the men of the family.
An interesting dynamic also emerges in this household—one which might not exist at most player draft parties. Because Toronto doesn't have an NFL team, the city has become a melting pot of NFL fandom. This get-together featured fans of the Raiders, Ravens, Giants, Buccaneers, Cardinals, Cowboys and Dolphins, all of whom are holding out hope that their buddy will wind up being drafted by their favorite team.
But one thing almost everyone has in common is they aren't about to mess with the man who brought them all together in this spot. A dozen friends show up to support Bridge, but they respect his nerves and give him space. Most don't even say hello when they come in. At this point, when pal Carlisle Stanford joins the group wearing a Vincent Jackson jersey, he takes a second to break unspoken protocol.
"Brandon," Stanford shouts across the room, "you good?"
He gets a simple nod back, which is all he needs. They wouldn't speak again for hours.
2:04 p.m. ET: Brandon Bridge is doing his best to hide the fact he's restless, but he can't stop shaking one leg, can't stop fiddling with and checking his phone, can't help making pained facial expressions. It's not as though he was sure he'd be picked by now, but the wait is agonizing.
With the Giants on the clock with that fifth-round selection Suzanne Bridge was spying, a phone rings. Minor false alarm—one of Brandon's buddies picks up and steps away to talk. But that's still enough to enhance the tension, as Aunt Mauva declares to anyone who's listening that only her nephew's phone should have its ringer on.
But as names fly off the board at a quicker rate—the Giants, by the way, go with safety Mykkele Thompson—those in attendance commit more of their peripheral vision to Brandon's mobile device. When he lifts it up, heads turn.
2:14 p.m. ET: With the 147th pick, the Packers select UCLA quarterback Brett Hundley, which gives Bridge's friends and family members something to applaud. Most experts had Hundley ranked ahead of Bridge entering the draft, but Kyle Bridge quickly points out that with Hundley off the board, his brother is now considered by many to be the top pivot still available.
But NFL Network's Mike Mayock has some harsh criticisms of Hundley, which really sheds some light on the awkward dynamic surrounding an event that demands its analysts and evaluators to be critical despite the fact families are watching as these big moments unfold for those they love.
"That's so rude," says Mayers after Mayock slams a quarterback most consider to be better than the one she supports. Limelight comes with a price.
2:27 p.m. ET: With the Colts on the clock in the fifth round, Kyle Bridge is getting antsy. "Pull the trigger!" he mutters under his breath to nobody in particular. Indy general manager Ryan Grigson doesn't comply with that request, instead drafting nose tackle David Parry.
That leaves just over 100 picks for Bridge to be selected. Kyle can't take it, because today, he's living vicariously through his younger brother. Today, he's hoping for a family dream to come true, not just Brandon's.
"When we were younger we said that if one of us makes it, we all make it," said Kyle about the mentality the three brothers had from the get-go. "I thought I'd be the first one because I'm older and I was at the pinnacle of my career. I thought I'd be the first one to make it and we'd all make it. But I was sidelined and that dream was crushed for me. And I knew he was the last one going for us, so I figured that he's the one that we have to live vicariously through."
Indeed, all three of the Bridge boys have had opportunities to hit it big. Antoine had a chance to play in the NBA Development League before blowing out his knee, ending his basketball career before it had a chance to start. And a similar thing happened to Kyle, who earned a scholarship to play wide receiver at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia and landed a tryout with the CFL's Toronto Argonauts before seeing his dreams go up in smoke thanks to an injury to his spinal cord.
That's when it became all about Brandon.
"They pushed him," said Colin Bridge, "and didn't let him get complacent." On days when Brandon didn't feel like working out, Kyle would always be there to force him. Antoine was also there to help him run routes, and because he was older and held a full-time job he was able to help in a different way by buying Brandon shoes and gloves when needed.
Kyle, though, was able to take all of the training practices he learned from his earlier pursuit and apply them to Brandon's sessions.
"If he didn't have the heart and the willingness to do this, he wouldn't be where he’s at right now," said Kyle. "This is something that he wants. We trained for hours and he needed that push, because I don't think that he'd be able to do it by himself."
Brandon agrees. He says that without Kyle he'd be "super skinny [with] no work ethic, pretty much just giving up on life."
"He's a fighter," Brandon added in praise of Kyle. "He's a hero to me."
3:32 p.m. ET: Round 6 is now underway, and Brandon Bridge has left the building. Without saying a word, he and Smith get up from the couch, put their shoes on and step outside.
Nobody asks where they're going, and they don't tell anyone. His friends know better. As Brandon leaves, all eight of those currently in attendance tap away at their phones in relative silence. Makes you wonder what these experiences were like before smartphones came to be.
There's no major concern here. Restlessness has just gotten the better of a man who has been awaiting his fate far longer than anyone would prefer.
"It's killing him," says Suzanne regarding the wait. "He doesn't care where he's drafted. He just wants to hear his name called."
Mom eventually gets up and takes a look outside for her youngest child but can't spot him. She figures he just needs some fresh air.
"He's his harshest critic," she'd later say. "He's the jovial one, he likes to kid around and have fun. But in this case, he knows this is his future, this is his life."
3:55 p.m. ET: The famous 199th pick is now within range on that NFL Network graphic, and Suzanne is fully aware that Tom Brady—whose Fathead is still plastered to the wall of Brandon's boyhood room—was once selected in that spot. She says Brandon and his agent have been talking to the Pittsburgh Steelers, who hold that selection, and she believes Pittsburgh would be an ideal fit for her son.
4:19 p.m. ET: With Brandon Bridge still MIA, everybody else perks up for pick No. 199. The Steelers take a defensive lineman named Leterrius Walton.
4:21 p.m. ET: Bridge returns to his party.
"That was just to clear my mind," he'd later say. "To stop looking at it."
4:40 p.m. ET: You can hear a pin drop in a room of 30 as the Colts once again refrain from drafting a quarterback, let alone one named Brandon Bridge. Only at funerals do this many people make this little noise. And as we enter the compensatory selections, nobody wants to broach the possibility that Brandon Bridge might not get drafted.
Brandon is sitting on a kitchen counter next to his dad, half-watching and half-texting while he bites his nails. You can see his face fade from nervous to resigned. It appears he's losing hope.
5:07 p.m. ET: Bridge rejoins Smith in the living room, his left knee shaking as he picks at his phone, the odd sigh and no words aside from sporadic whispers between he and his girlfriend. When fellow Canadian prospect Christian Covington is drafted by the Houston Texans, he expresses some pride while telling Smith that "this guy's from Canada."
Covington would be the only Canadian drafted this weekend.
5:25 p.m. ET: This is it, the phone call Bridge and two dozen of the most important people in his life have been waiting five-plus hours for. It's not somebody else's ringer this time. And it's been so long that it takes a moment for those in the room to register that he's finally getting a call.
The Arizona Cardinals are on the other end, but it quickly becomes apparent that the Cards aren't calling with good news. Instead, Arizona, which has one pick left, is trying to get a feel for Bridge's interest in case he goes undrafted.
Bridge spends one minute and 45 seconds on the phone with Cardinals brass, saying only a few words. Half of the people in his party have video rolling on their phones, looking to capture the biggest moment of Brandon Bridge's life. Instead, they capture a business call.
5:55 p.m. ET: Out of hope with 18 picks remaining, Bridge mutters that "it's over" and shows his first signs of life since his mid-afternoon walk. He grabs a drink and gets some food for Smith and himself.
6:09 p.m. ET: Bridge's phone rings again. This time, it's the Lions, who are out of picks. The camera phones invade immediately, but Bridge shakes his head to the crowd, knowing that this is nothing more than a call to gauge interest for the free-agent signing spree that will take place immediately following the draft.
6:17 p.m. ET: We're inside the final 10 picks now, and it's been four hours since the last quarterback was drafted more than 100 picks ago. Suzanne is perplexed, noting that, according to her research, about a dozen pivots are selected each year. Her research is bang-on.
But to this point, only six quarterbacks have gone off the board.
| 2015 | 7 |
| 1998 | 8 |
| 1996 | 8 |
| 1993 | 8 |
| 1994 | 9 |
| Average | 14.6 |
Bridge is told that this would mark the first time since 1996* that fewer than seven quarterbacks get drafted, which has to be tough, considering that a major outlet like CBS Sports ranked him as the seventh-best quarterback in this year's class, and most others had him in the top 10.
"1996?" he responds, pounding his left fist into his open right hand in frustration as he looks over at the TV. "Seven more picks."
He pulls Smith into his arms as Kyle gives him a pat on the leg.
* NFL.com's positional database is missing names, and in fact eight quarterbacks were taken in '96. This is actually the first time since 1955 in which fewer than eight quarterbacks were selected.
6:20 p.m. ET: When Bridge sees Northwestern quarterback Trevor Siemian get drafted 250th by the Denver Broncos, he can only wince. Siemian wasn't even on draft radars until late in the process, but now he is unknowingly kicking the Canadian while he's down.
6:36 p.m. ET: The draft concludes with only seven quarterbacks going off the board. It marks the first time this century that fewer than 10 pivots have been taken. Bridge quips that "this is my first time watching all the way to the end," before disappearing to charge his phone and lie down.
6:57 p.m. ET: Friends and family have begun to clear out. Some of his buddies finish their takeout. They're a little looser now, able to crack jokes while talking about Game 7 between the Spurs and Clippers, unaware of the fact Bridge is having what his father would later call an emotional experience in his room upstairs.
"You're thinking so hard about, 'Maybe I could go here or here.' So I kind of just wanted to lay down, clear my thoughts," he'd later say "And I just kind of thought about, 'What now?'"
His agent, David Mulugheta, tells him to relax and stay patient. He eventually comes down and says goodbye to some friends and relatives, while others slip away without the pleasantries.
7:19 p.m. ET: It looks as though something is in the works with the Lions, and several other teams have inquired, including the relatively local Buffalo Bills.
While Colin cleans up, Suzanne remarks that, from a pragmatic standpoint, Bridge was better off going undrafted than being picked late. Now, he and his agent have some control over their destiny.
Still, it stings.
11:15 p.m. ET: At a lounge in Toronto's swanky Yorkville neighborhood, an exclusive party is being held in Bridge's honor. About 150 people are in attendance, including legendary former CFL quarterback Damon Allen. A booth has been reserved for Brandon and his close friends and relatives, but soon after arriving Bridge finds an area away from the action in the back corner.
This was undoubtedly the longest day of Bridge's life, and he doesn't appear ready to mingle. He can't stand still either, because he and his agent have yet to determine where he'll go.
"I just want this to be over," he says, leaning up against a wall at the back of a dark room as he speculates with me on potential destinations.
I suggest he get a beer and relax, but Brandon Bridge doesn't drink. During the molding process, that's a vice Kyle Bridge steered Brandon away from.
"Kyle made him that way," says big brother Antoine. "If it wasn't for Kyle, he wouldn't have been benching 225 in high school."
And that's why Bridge isn't a typical pro or college athlete. He's a regular dude with a lot of skill and an abundance of support. He remains raw on the football field, but he's seasoned off of it. For a large portion of Saturday's events, it felt as though Bridge's ego was being bruised. But as we speak late this night, it's becoming apparent that his tension had a lot more to do with fearing the unknown than not hearing his name announced on national television.
"It's never about him," said Colin. "It's always about everybody else around him. When he's on the field he wants to be the best that he can be, but he gives everybody else the praise. He won't take the praise for himself."
A few minutes later, Smith tells Bridge that models at the party are wearing shirts bearing his name.
His response: "You've gotta be kidding me."
11:45 p.m. ET: Almost 12 hours after Bridge was starting his day with the look of a man who had endured a 12-round fight, he's about to watch one between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao. And for the first time all day, he and those around him can focus on something other than Brandon Bridge.
He's not ready to crack a smile just yet, but you get the sense the distraction is exactly what he needed. The same supporters who had his back all day remain by his side, and Stanford and the rest of his longtime pals—including his brothers and his cousin, Jahvin—no longer feel the need to give Brandon extra space. Good friends just know when the time is right.
Bridge will dodge the party post-fight, and he'll actually get four hours of sleep Saturday night, which is a 100 percent improvement over Friday.
What he doesn't know is that 12 hours from now he'll have struck a deal with the Dallas Cowboys—who weren't even in touch with Bridge until the next day—setting him up to attend the team's rookie minicamp next weekend. Canada's quarterback with a shot at making America's Team.
Fittingly, Bridge's late uncle was a Cowboys fan, as is Smith, who hails from the Dallas area. When Bridge went undrafted, she was the first one to remind him that Cowboys Pro Bowl quarterback Tony Romo suffered the same inconvenience 12 years ago.
"It's kind of ironic," he'd later say of the Romo connection. "It's crazy how his whole career went. It doesn't matter how you start, it's how you finish. Obviously he made the best of his opportunity, and hopefully I can do the same."
Brad Gagnon has covered the NFL for Bleacher Report since 2012.
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