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I was sitting around on Thursday evening, watching the mid-to-late portion of the first round of the 2021 NFL Draft play out.
“Who are the Steelers going to take?” I thought with great anticipation as the Giants, the team with the 20th pick via Chicago, were about to have their selection announced by commissioner Roger Goodell: “With the 20th pick of the 2021 NFL Draft, the New York Giants select Kadarius Toney, wide-receiver, Florida.”
Right at that very moment, 10:48 p.m., I got a text from my brother that read, “I got the call tj HARRIS IS OURS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” I texted back, “They still have three picks to go {before the Steelers pick at 24}. How can your friend be so sure?” My brother said, “trust me tj HE KNOWS HARRIS IS OURS LOL.” (My brother likes to text in all caps and laugh out loud while doing so like some sort of crazy person.)
This is when I immediately put out an “educated guess” to my fellow BTSC writers and social media that it just had to be Harris. It just had to be. In fact, I basically Tweeted those exact words at 10:56 p.m. (I ignored my brother’s initial text for eight minutes because I’m a jerk): “There is no way it’s not going to be Harris to the #Steelers now.” Anyway, I wanted to gauge the reaction of everyone to what I was certain would be the Steelers pick. (It was lukewarm.) I wasn’t sure, though. You can never be sure when your brother’s friend’s friend is the actual insider (full disclosure).
Sure enough, not long after the Steelers time on the clock commenced, Goodell was up there at the podium announcing Harris’s name.
Amazing. My brother, the inside via two other insiders, came through again. I know what you’re going to say; my brother’s friend’s friend could have made this bold prediction based on deductive reasoning due to the fact that none of the three teams picking before the Steelers were slated to take a running back; Pittsburgh, on the other hand, had been linked to one—specifically, Harris—for quite some time.
However, if you knew the history of my brother’s friend’s friend with regards to insider information about the Steelers, you wouldn’t be so quick to dismiss him as a credible source.
I can’t tell you who my brother’s friends friend is (he’s involved with the organization in some capacity), but for the sake of this article, let’s just call him—and this is a totally original code name I came up with thanks to my creativity and brilliance—Deep Throat.
Anywho, Deep Throat has come through on a number of occasions in recent years, especially a few springs ago when he was a huge star of the 2018 NFL Draft.
He knew about the Martavis Bryant trade to the Raiders hours before it was announced during the draft. The Steelers got a third-round pick out of the deal and ultimately used it to move up a few spots to draft Mason Rudolph. Perhaps you know him by his own code name: Polarizing.
I believe I was the first person in the universe to publicly announce that Terrell Edmunds, safety, Virginia Tech would be the Steelers first-round choice as I co-hosted The Final Score podcast with Bryan Anthony Davis during the draft. In fact, I got completely distracted by this text from my brother, “EDMUNDS VIRGINIA TECH IS OUR PICK!” and didn’t even process an on-air question from Bryan.
I’ll give you Harris, but how can you explain this knowledge of a safety nobody in their right mind would have predicted the Steelers would take with the 28th pick?
I learned that night to never doubt my brother’s friend’s friend (Deep Throat) ever again.
I know what you’re going to ask me. If I was so confident in this info about the Harris pick, why didn’t I just come out and boldly proclaim it instead of hiding behind an “educated guess?”
And believe my own brother, the guy who texts in all caps and laughs out loud while doing so? Are you crazy?
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