ESPN followed Tommy Mollett's draft journey right up to his selection by the Raiders

[ASFN Admin]

Tommy Mellott's draft story is fascinating. Last week, in the leadup to the draft, ESPN wrote a piece about him without mentioning him by name. Calling him just "Prospect X". Shortly after the Raiders selected the FCS quarterback at pick 213 in the sixth round, some internet sleuths figured out Mollett was the Prospect X who was detailed in the article.

In the piece, writer Kalyn Kahler spoke at length about how Mellott was a local celebrity in Butte Montana. But was overlooked by the draft media and much of the NFL scouts as well. But who, after testing off the charts both physically and mentall, could ultimately find himself a sleeper pick in this year's draft.

From the sounds of it, there were at least a half dozen teams that were ready to take Mollett late in this year's draft. And a few more who, had Mollett not been selected, would have made him one of their first priority free agent calls.

The Raiders jumped those teams and took Mollett with one of their two sixth round compensatory selections, giving Mollett's draft journey a happy ending.

ESPN revisited their coverage of "Prospect X" on Wednesday, this time revealing it was, indeed, Tommy Mellott. Along with the revelation, Kahler followed up the initial report with her coverage of him on day three of the draft along with the moment he was selected.

"He didn't pay much attention to his phone during the fourth and fifth round because he knew it would be a big surprise if he went that early. But now it's the sixth round and he's starting to lock in, looking at the draft order to see the teams he has talked to the most. He holds his phone tightly with Cincinnati on the clock at No. 193, its final pick of the draft. That's the only team he visited in the predraft process, the city that he found to be green and clean, and special teams coordinator Darren Simmons spent so much time with him breaking down his vision of Taysom Hill 2.0: personal protector on punt, dangerous trick play threat and valuable depth at quarterback. But the Bengals go with a true running back, Tahj Brooks, of Texas Tech. . .

"X (Mollett) scans the draft order for the teams he has talked to most. Denver traded back and have the final pick of the sixth round. New Orleans has two seventh-round picks and an assistant coach there texted him to say the club was going to try to pick him up with one of its last two picks. Dallas has two seventh-round picks, but he hasn't heard a word from the Cowboys since they came to campus to work him out. Washington has a sixth and a seventh.

"Andi, Abby and Aiden are talking loudly because the Las Vegas Raiders and the Los Angeles Chargers still have to pick before Denver is up, and X hasn't talked to those teams much, when suddenly, Shane turns down the TV. Andi looks around, wondering why he didn't just tell them to be quiet if he thought the competing sound was too distracting. But Shane points at X, who now has his phone to ear."

You can view the moment Tommy Mollett got the Raiders draft call HERE.

Tommy sits listening to the voice on the other end of the phone for a time, saying. among other things "yes, sir...I can't wait." and eventually hangs up. He then sits back and has a small chuckle to himself, keeping his family in suspense as he processes it.

"Who, Tommy?" his mom shouts.

"Are you a Raider?" asks his dad.

"Yeah, I think so," Tommy says in seeming disbelief. "Well, that's what they said."

And everyone erupts in cheers.

In the first piece, before revealing Mollett was the subject of it, they talked about several teams who had showed interest in him. The Raiders weren't one of the main ones. The only contact from the Raiders was a scout phoning in the days before the draft confirming his phone number.

Turns out the Raiders played this one perfectly, knowing there were several other teams who were also interested in Mollett late in the draft and wanted to ensure one of them didn't catch wind of their interest and try to jump them.

The Raiders even went as far as to send Mollett a list of stats touting the organization including their facilities, great players on the team, which rang like a team trying to convince him to sign with them as an undrafted free agent. Which is a good practice because you never really know how the draft will unfold. But the Raiders were masking that their intention all along was the draft him.

They didn't even have Mollett out for a pre-draft visit for that very reason. All so that no other teams would know of their interest.

"The risk also is that if you [host a pre-draft visit with] somebody like this, you put yourself on the radar as a team that you'd want to get in front of if you want to pick him," Spytek said.

So, why did the Raiders want him so much? Raiders special teams coordinator Tom McMahon sees him in the mold of players like Julian Edelman, Taysom Hill or Josh Cribbs. Guys who throughout his career he has not enjoyed having to face.

"There's players in this league that have been quarterbacks and been converted that have been nightmares for me in my 19 years [coaching] special teams," McMahon told ESPN. "Because they can run fakes as the personal protector on punt, they're great kick returners, they're great punt returners. A lot of them are very tough. We think that Tommy has those traits."

And after the Raiders selected Mollett, McMahon said he got texts from no fewer than ten other special teams coordinators across the league either congratulating or cursing him because their team was about to take Mollett.

That's an actual draft steal, folks.

The entire "Prospect X revealed" piece is worth a read. But get your tissues ready for the part about his grandfather.

This article originally appeared on Raiders Wire: Raiders draft pick Tommy Mollett's journey chronicled by ESPN

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