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It’s been more than a week for those that celebrated being selected in the NFL draft. For the 257 players and many that were undrafted, it’s time to get to work as they join their new teams with eight having rookie minicamps the past few days and the remaining 24, including the Arizona Cardinals, welcoming the newcomers next weekend.
For others, like former Cardinals linebacker Zack Walz, the shine hasn’t worn off after being part of the announcement of this year’s Tillman Pick along with Tillman Scholar Margo Darragh.
We chronicled their experience on this site a few days after the draft ended, but one story couldn’t do it justice.
Walz got emotional when he recalled Darragh’s reaction when handed the card for the pick shortly before the announcement of Navy defensive tackle Landon Robinson at pick 226. That’s because Darragh also attended the Naval Academy.
Walz said, “When she pulled it, the goosebumps that came over her, she couldn't believe it. She's like, “I can't believe it's a Naval Academy player.”
He added, “I haven't been choked up one time in the last week, but I think about it just like this whole week has been such a crazy week, and so many amazing things that happened.
“I’ve never really slowed down to pinch myself or to smell the roses. And now I'm thinking about all the things that have happened and kind of the timeline of how this thing has played out and it’s almost unexplainable.”
It was another example of the Circle of Life that we described last week. Call this, then, the tale of a high-school teammate, dog tags and a special T-shirt.
Walz thought immediately of Eric Lewis, who was a safety and running back at St. Francis High School in Mountain View, Calif. Lewis’ father, Sherman, was a longtime assistant coach in the NFL.
Walz said, “He's one of my closest friends from high school growing up.”
That’s where Walz relates how Lewis was co-player of the year in the Central Coast Section of California high schools as a senior.
And … the player he shared the award with was, yes, Pat Tillman of Leland High School in San Jose.
But, that’s not all, as Walz then says, “Eric Lewis is now the defensive coordinator at the Naval Academy.”
He adds, “It’s amazing. All these other connections where my friend Eric is watching the draft. I'm (helping) call out a Naval Academy guy. He's the defensive coordinator.”
Walz then reflects goes back to his third season with the Cardinals and with Tillman as a teammate. Glenn Pires, the team’s assistant linebackers coach, gave players “Tiffany-like” gold-plated engraved dog tags.
Knowing how some people have issues with football being compared to war, Walz said, “He (Pires) had the best intent, right? It was just to show solidarity through the linebackers. I think so many of the analogies, they ring pretty hollow when you think about it now, but the point (he was making) is you guys are soldiers, you're in this together, we're a team, we're laying it on the line. And I kind of said some of this during my eulogy, but he meant well with it.”
Not long after that, following 9/11, Tillman famously left football to become part of the Army special forces.
Walz said, “Then you got a guy who actually enlists and he's actually putting his life on the line, right? He's actually a soldier. And you know, here we are, millionaires for the most part, wearing these Tiffany's gold-plated dog tags as just a show of like, we are responsible to one another. It was an effort to bring us together.
“And when Pat enlisted, I called him, I talked to him, I want to say a month or two into his basic training or wherever he was at that point. He was on a break and we talked for an hour and a half, just about everything. And it just dawned on me. “Dude, like I've got these dog tags from my coach. Is there any way you can like send me a dog tag? I don't know how that works with the military. Do you get an extra pair? I'd rather wear your dog tag than the Tiffany's one that has my name on it.’ ”
Walz said he didn’t know what would happen, but not long afterward, a package arrived in the mail with an extra set of Pat Tillman dog tags that he then wore everywhere.
That changed after he told the story during his eulogy for Tillman following his death in 2004.
“I came home and everywhere I went in Arizona, people wanted to see them and they wanted to hold them,” Walz said. “They wanted to try them on. They wanted to take pictures with them. And it got a little bit scary. People were kind of grabbing them.”
He then decided “these things belong in a case and I have them preserved in a case with my trophies. They are the crown jewel of my trophy case for sure.”
But they came out in Pittsburgh and he wore them during the announcement.
“It’s very meaningful to me,” he said.
It was only about a week before the draft that Walz was asked to be part of the Tillman Pick presentation. He knew he wanted to wear a shirt with Tillman’s face on it “that people haven’t seen. And I wanted it to be like a black and white one with an outline of his face.”
However, a few days passed and before he knew it, it was Wednesday evening, he was flying to Pittsburgh on Friday morning and “I still didn't have a shirt. I just sort of dropped the ball of putting it together.”
That’s when he sent an email to Shirt52 in Tempe and told them what he was doing.
“The owner (Zach Houser) called me in 30 seconds and he said, ‘Get down here.’ He worked until like 10 o'clock that night at his shop with a designer. He created the design that I gave to him. And we put it on a T-shirt.”
The silhouette design of Tillman’s face was based on a picture Walz believes was from his freshman season at Arizona State when he had a mullet.
Walz said, “That was the concept because even in silhouette everybody knows who it is.”
The reaction was instantaneous. People reached out to Walz on LinkedIn. Friends and strangers told him how cool it is. Tillman’s wife, Marie, told Walz, “I love the T-shirt.” People want one.
Walz hopes they can be produced to raise money for the Pat Tillman Foundation. He said, “I just want to raise awareness. I would love for this thing to take off because it sounds like it's kind of on its way.”
As famous radio personality Paul Harvey always said at the end of his broadcasts, "And now you know the rest of the story.”
Get more Cardinals and NFL coverage from Cards Wire's Jess Root and others by listening to the latest on the Rise Up, See Red podcast. Subscribe on Spotify, YouTube or Apple podcasts.
This article originally appeared on Cards Wire: The 'rest of the story' of the 2026 Pat Tillman draft pick
Continue reading...
For others, like former Cardinals linebacker Zack Walz, the shine hasn’t worn off after being part of the announcement of this year’s Tillman Pick along with Tillman Scholar Margo Darragh.
We chronicled their experience on this site a few days after the draft ended, but one story couldn’t do it justice.
Walz got emotional when he recalled Darragh’s reaction when handed the card for the pick shortly before the announcement of Navy defensive tackle Landon Robinson at pick 226. That’s because Darragh also attended the Naval Academy.
Walz said, “When she pulled it, the goosebumps that came over her, she couldn't believe it. She's like, “I can't believe it's a Naval Academy player.”
He added, “I haven't been choked up one time in the last week, but I think about it just like this whole week has been such a crazy week, and so many amazing things that happened.
“I’ve never really slowed down to pinch myself or to smell the roses. And now I'm thinking about all the things that have happened and kind of the timeline of how this thing has played out and it’s almost unexplainable.”
It was another example of the Circle of Life that we described last week. Call this, then, the tale of a high-school teammate, dog tags and a special T-shirt.
The Teammate
Walz thought immediately of Eric Lewis, who was a safety and running back at St. Francis High School in Mountain View, Calif. Lewis’ father, Sherman, was a longtime assistant coach in the NFL.
Walz said, “He's one of my closest friends from high school growing up.”
That’s where Walz relates how Lewis was co-player of the year in the Central Coast Section of California high schools as a senior.
And … the player he shared the award with was, yes, Pat Tillman of Leland High School in San Jose.
But, that’s not all, as Walz then says, “Eric Lewis is now the defensive coordinator at the Naval Academy.”
He adds, “It’s amazing. All these other connections where my friend Eric is watching the draft. I'm (helping) call out a Naval Academy guy. He's the defensive coordinator.”
The Dog Tags
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Walz then reflects goes back to his third season with the Cardinals and with Tillman as a teammate. Glenn Pires, the team’s assistant linebackers coach, gave players “Tiffany-like” gold-plated engraved dog tags.
Knowing how some people have issues with football being compared to war, Walz said, “He (Pires) had the best intent, right? It was just to show solidarity through the linebackers. I think so many of the analogies, they ring pretty hollow when you think about it now, but the point (he was making) is you guys are soldiers, you're in this together, we're a team, we're laying it on the line. And I kind of said some of this during my eulogy, but he meant well with it.”
Not long after that, following 9/11, Tillman famously left football to become part of the Army special forces.
Walz said, “Then you got a guy who actually enlists and he's actually putting his life on the line, right? He's actually a soldier. And you know, here we are, millionaires for the most part, wearing these Tiffany's gold-plated dog tags as just a show of like, we are responsible to one another. It was an effort to bring us together.
“And when Pat enlisted, I called him, I talked to him, I want to say a month or two into his basic training or wherever he was at that point. He was on a break and we talked for an hour and a half, just about everything. And it just dawned on me. “Dude, like I've got these dog tags from my coach. Is there any way you can like send me a dog tag? I don't know how that works with the military. Do you get an extra pair? I'd rather wear your dog tag than the Tiffany's one that has my name on it.’ ”
Walz said he didn’t know what would happen, but not long afterward, a package arrived in the mail with an extra set of Pat Tillman dog tags that he then wore everywhere.
That changed after he told the story during his eulogy for Tillman following his death in 2004.
“I came home and everywhere I went in Arizona, people wanted to see them and they wanted to hold them,” Walz said. “They wanted to try them on. They wanted to take pictures with them. And it got a little bit scary. People were kind of grabbing them.”
He then decided “these things belong in a case and I have them preserved in a case with my trophies. They are the crown jewel of my trophy case for sure.”
But they came out in Pittsburgh and he wore them during the announcement.
“It’s very meaningful to me,” he said.
The T-shirt
It was only about a week before the draft that Walz was asked to be part of the Tillman Pick presentation. He knew he wanted to wear a shirt with Tillman’s face on it “that people haven’t seen. And I wanted it to be like a black and white one with an outline of his face.”
However, a few days passed and before he knew it, it was Wednesday evening, he was flying to Pittsburgh on Friday morning and “I still didn't have a shirt. I just sort of dropped the ball of putting it together.”
That’s when he sent an email to Shirt52 in Tempe and told them what he was doing.
“The owner (Zach Houser) called me in 30 seconds and he said, ‘Get down here.’ He worked until like 10 o'clock that night at his shop with a designer. He created the design that I gave to him. And we put it on a T-shirt.”
The silhouette design of Tillman’s face was based on a picture Walz believes was from his freshman season at Arizona State when he had a mullet.
Walz said, “That was the concept because even in silhouette everybody knows who it is.”
The reaction was instantaneous. People reached out to Walz on LinkedIn. Friends and strangers told him how cool it is. Tillman’s wife, Marie, told Walz, “I love the T-shirt.” People want one.
You must be registered for see images attach
Walz hopes they can be produced to raise money for the Pat Tillman Foundation. He said, “I just want to raise awareness. I would love for this thing to take off because it sounds like it's kind of on its way.”
As famous radio personality Paul Harvey always said at the end of his broadcasts, "And now you know the rest of the story.”
Get more Cardinals and NFL coverage from Cards Wire's Jess Root and others by listening to the latest on the Rise Up, See Red podcast. Subscribe on Spotify, YouTube or Apple podcasts.
This article originally appeared on Cards Wire: The 'rest of the story' of the 2026 Pat Tillman draft pick
Continue reading...
