Mr. Irrelevant

Mr. Irrelevant

In the National Football League draft, the final player picked in the final round is bestowed the title Mr. Irrelevant. Since 1976, NFL alumnus Paul Salata has announced this player, and the team selecting him has presented him with a jersey emblazoned with his three-digit draft number and the name Mr. Irrelevant.

Kalan Reed was chosen by the Tennessee Titans as the 253rd pick of the 2016 draft, making him Mr. Irrelevant XLI. Reed, who lived in Nashville as a child and still has family there, told reporters, “I couldn’t be more excited. That’s been my favorite team ever since I was little. It’s a dream come true.”

Some sportscasters deride the title Mr. Irrelevant as silly hype, insisting the last player chosen would have been better off going undrafted and becoming a free agent, so he could choose his own team and steer his own destiny. But Salata insists it’s an honor to be chosen, celebrating the values of enduring effort and sportsmanship. Mr. Irrelevant is given a tour of Disneyland, takes part in a regatta, and receives the Lowsman Trophy, which pictures a player fumbling the ball. For a short time—perhaps for the only or last time in his life—he’ll be the center of attention.

In our culture that prizes only the best, biggest, shiniest, youngest, smartest, most beautiful, and richest, Mr. Irrelevant is a winsome contrast. Every day, you and I meet people who feel irrelevant but are not. They are not because each of us is created in God’s image, and he knows each of us by name. If God gave us jerseys, they’d all say “1” because we are all unique and precious in his sight. He knows what we are capable of and how we fit in the fabric of his creation. As his ambassadors in this world, we can give attention to the underdog and refuse to overlook the underhyped. We can love without regard to the culture’s mixed-up values and instead see those we meet with God’s perspective.

Every season a new player joins a brotherhood of Mr. Irrelevants. But he will never, ever be what the name on his jersey says. He can’t be. God wouldn’t have it. And neither should we.

We are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.

Ephesians 2:10