The NFL draft is not always a tightly choreographed production.
Take a snafu during the first round Thursday night, as reported by NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport.
The Dallas Cowboys were on the clock with the No. 20 pick and were expected to draft a defensive player. So the Pittsburgh Steelers, who owned the No. 21 pick, acted on their anticipatory skills.
They called wide receiver Makai Lemon out of Southern California – the player they intended to draft at No. 21. But there was a problem.
The Philadelphia Eagles had traded over the Steelers to the No. 20 pick after completing a deal with the Cowboys. The Eagles wanted Lemon, and so they called him. But Lemon didn’t pick up, because he still was talking to the Steelers.
“In the end,’’ Rapoport said on the NFL Network, “the Eagles do the trade, they get Makai Lemon, and the Steelers grab a tackle right after.’’
That offensive tackle was Max Iheanachor. No word on if he was on the phone with another team when the Steelers called.
From the NFL Draft: A wild story, as the #Eagles trade up for Makai Lemon... while he was on the phone with the #Steelers. pic.twitter.com/r1R6pQnFgi
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Makai Lemon NFL draft phone call confusion leads to funny moment