Connect with us

Sports

Buffalo star Red Murdock is 'Mr. Irrelevant' after Broncos tab him last in draft

NCAA Football: Buffalo at WisconsinSep 2, 2023; Madison, Wisconsin, USA; Wisconsin Badgers running back Braelon Allen (0) rushes with the football as Buffalo Bulls linebacker Red Murdock (2) defends during the third quarter at Camp Randall Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Hanisch-Imagn Images

Red Murdock enjoyed a storied college career at Buffalo but all his accolades and production weren’t appearing especially relevant in the eyes of NFL teams.

But Murdock was finally chosen Sunday by the Denver Broncos with the 257th and last pick of the seven-round 2026 NFL Draft in Pittsburgh, earning him the label of “Mr. Irrelevant.”

The second-team All-American is the 51st player to earn the “Mr. Irrelevant” tag since the tradition began in 1976.

Murdock, whose birth name is Khalil, set the FBS record of 17 career forced fumbles during his time at Buffalo. He had four in 2023, seven in 2024 and six in 2025. Ironically, another former Buffalo star, longtime NFL player Khalil Mack, held the previous record of 16.

Murdock ranked third in the nation with 142 tackles in 2025 and also had five sacks among 13.5 tackles for loss. In 2024, he was second nationally with 156 stops. He was a first-team All-Mid-American-Conference choice in both seasons.

Still, Murdock was getting concerned in the latter stages of the three-day draft. He didn’t want to go undrafted.

“I feel extremely grateful and excited to help the Broncos win, above all else,” Murdock told reporters. “I know a little bit about Mr. Irrelevant, but the main thing is I got an opportunity, and I’m trying to make the most of it to help us win.”

The most prominent Mr. Irrelevant is quarterback Brock Purdy, who was the final pick of the 2022 draft by the San Francisco 49ers. Purdy was repeatedly passed over despite a highly decorated college career at Iowa State.

It didn’t take long for the pick to pay dividends as Purdy quarterbacked the 49ers to the 2023 season’s Super Bowl before his club lost to the Kansas City Chiefs.

The creator of Mr. Irrelevant, former NFL receiver Paul Salata, died at age 94 in 2021.

The last pick receives more attention than any other seventh-round selection and the notoriety reaches its zenith when the player travels to Southern California to be honored during Irrelevant Week. Among the festivities is the awarding of the “Lowsman Trophy.”

–Field Level Media

source

Continue Reading
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Sports

Reds place slugger Eugenio Suarez (oblique) on 10-day IL

MLB: Cincinnati Reds at Minnesota TwinsApr 17, 2026; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Cincinnati Reds third baseman Eugenio Suarez (28) hits a double in the fourth inning against the Minnesota Twins at Target Field. Mandatory Credit: Nick Wosika-Imagn Images

The Cincinnati Reds placed veteran designated hitter/third baseman Eugenio Suarez on the 10-day injured list Saturday due to a left oblique strain.

The move is retroactive to Thursday.

Cincinnati recalled outfielder JJ Bleday from Triple-A Louisville to fill the roster spot.

Reds manager Terry Francona doesn’t expect Suarez to be sidelined long.

“The hope is after possibly five or six days if symptoms are gone, we’ll get him imaged again,” Francona told reporters. “Then we’ll start to build him back up.”

Suarez was scratched from Friday’s lineup before a game against the Detroit Tigers about one hour before first pitch when he felt pain in his left side while swinging a bat. He underwent an MRI exam that detected the damage.

Suarez, 34, is batting .231 with three homers and 11 RBIs in 25 games. He signed a one-year, $15 million deal as a free agent in the offseason for his second tour of duty with Cincinnati. He also played for the Reds from 2015-21.

Suarez matched his career high of 49 homers last season while splitting time between the Arizona Diamondbacks (36 HRs) and the Seattle Mariners (13). He also hit 49 for the Reds in 2019.

Bleday, 28, was batting .341 with six homers and 19 RBIs in 24 games at Louisville. He nearly made the Cincinnati roster in spring training when he batted with .317 with four homers.

Bleday has 49 homers over four major league seasons with the Miami Marlins (2022) and Athletics (2023-25) but has just a .215 career average.

Cincinnati also recalled Jose Franco from Louisville and optioned fellow right-hander Kyle Nicolas to the same affiliate.

Franco, 25, had a 3.18 ERA in three appearances with the Reds earlier this season. Nicolas, 27, went 1-0 with an 8.59 ERA in seven appearances and walked 13 batters in just 7 1/3 innings.

–Field Level Media

source

Continue Reading

Sports

Alexander Zverev holds strong to remain perfect in Madrid openers

Tennis: Miami OpenMar 27, 2026; Miami Gardens, FL, USA; Alexander Zverev of Germany reacts after missing a shot against against Jannik Sinner of Italy in the semi-finals of the men’s singles at the Miami Open at the Hard Rock Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mike Frey-Imagn Images

Second-seeded Alexander Zverev of Germany maintained his composure to nab a three-set win to keep up his perfect record in opening round matches at the Mutua Madrid Open by taking down Argentina’s Mariano Navone 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 on Saturday.

The two-time Madrid Open winner improved to 9-0 in his first match at the tournament after receiving a first round bye. Zverev converted 4 of 8 break point attempts and had 22 winners to Navone’s six.

“It’s definitely a different type of tournament here,” Zverev said when asked about the high-altitude conditions. “I love it. You either love it or hate it, kind of, because there is no in between. Everything is a bit faster, the ball bounces higher, the serve is maybe a bit more effective. So you either love it or hate it. Winning the tournament twice here, of course I hope to add some more titles to that. I enjoy playing here.”

With the win, Zverev has a date in the round of 32 with France’s Terence Atmane, who beat his fellow countrymen Ugo Humbert, the No. 30 seed, 7-6 (3), 7-6 (5) earlier in the day.

Also advancing was defending champion and No. 12 seed Casper Ruud of Norway with his 6-0, 6-1 win over Spaniard Jaume Munar. Rudd maintained his serve without being broken and forced Munar into 17 unforced errors.

No. 3 seed and 2024 finalist Felix Auger-Aliassime of Canada advanced past Lithuanian qualifier Vilius Gaubas 6-3, 6-4. Auger-Aliassime never faced a break point behind his dominant serve that yielded seven aces.

Facing off against Auger-Aliassime will be Belgium’s Alexander Blockx, who upset American and No. 28 Brandon Nakashima 3-6, 6-3, 6-4. The other big upset of the day was Paraguay’s Adolfo Daniel Vallejo beating 17-seed Learner Tien 6-4, 6-3. This was Daniel Vallejo’s first ever win over a top 75 opponent.

Vallejo will take on No. 10 Flavio Cobolli of Italy. He beat Argentinian Camilo Ugo Carabelli 6-7 (7), 6-1, 6-4.

In the other three-set match, seventh-seeded Daniil Medvedev held strong against Hungary’s Fabian Marozsan 6-2, 6-7 (3), 6-4.

In two-set action on the day, No. 13 Karen Khachanov of Russia took down Australia’s Adam Walton 6-2, 6-3; No. 16 Francisco Cerundolo of Argentina outdueled German Yannick Hanfmann 6-1, 7-5; No. 18 Luciano Darderi of Italy bested Argentina’s Juan Manuel Cerundolo 6-1, 6-3; Spain’s No. 20-seed Alejandro Davidovich Fokina beat fellow countrymen Pablo Carreno Busta 6-3, 6-3 and No. 23 Jakub Mensik of Czechia got past qualifier Martin Damm 6-3, 6-4.

Spanish qualifier Daniel Merida upset No. 26 Corentin Moutet of France 6-3, 6-4; Norwegian qualifier Nicolai Budkov Kjaer dominated No. 31 Canadian Denis Shapovalov 6-2, 6-1 and Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas got the best of No. 8 Alexander Bublik of Kazakhstan 6-2, 7-5.

–Field Level Media

source

Continue Reading

Sports

Mariners top Cardinals for 3rd straight win

MLB: Seattle Mariners at St. Louis CardinalsApr 25, 2026; St. Louis, Missouri, USA; Seattle Mariners third baseman Will Wilson (7) reacts after hitting a two home run against the St. Louis Cardinals during the second inning at Busch Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-Imagn Images

Leo Rivas’ tie-breaking, two-run single in the ninth inning propelled the Seattle Mariners to an 11-9 victory over the host St. Louis Cardinals on Saturday afternoon.

Julio Rodriguez, Will Wilson and Cole Young homered for the Mariners, who posted their third straight victory and sent the Cardinals to their third loss in a row.

For St. Louis, Nathan Church hit two home runs and JJ Wetherholt, Ivan Herrera and Pedro Pages also went deep.

Mariners reliever Matt Brash (2-0) earned the victory and Andres Munoz worked the ninth for his fifth save.

Cardinals closer Riley O’Brien (3-1) allowed two runs and four hits in one inning in taking the loss.

J.P. Crawford reached on a bunt single with one out in the ninth, Mitch Garver walked, and Young was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Rivas lined the next pitch up the middle for two RBIs to break a 9-9 deadlock.

Seattle had tied the game in the eighth. Garver and Young led off with singles and advanced on Rivas’ sacrifice bunt. The Mariners called on Connor Joe to pinch hit, and the Cardinals countered with O’Brien. Joe lined a two-run single to right to make it 9-9.

The Mariners took a 2-0 lead in the first inning. Cal Raleigh singled, and Rodriguez followed with a blast into the third deck in left field.

The Cardinals tied it in the bottom of the frame as Wetherholt lined the second pitch over the wall in right field and Herrera hit the next out to left-center.

Seattle regained the lead in the second as Garver led off with an infield single and, an out later, Wilson went deep to left. It was the first career homer for Wilson, who was making his Mariners debut at third base with former Cardinal Brendan Donovan on the 10-day injured list (left groin strain).

Church homered to right-center with one out in the bottom of the second to pull the Cardinals to 4-3.

St. Louis took the lead with four runs in the third. Jordan Walker and Nolan Gorman singled to left, and Masyn Winn hit a run-scoring single to right. Church’s sacrifice fly to center scored Gorman with the go-ahead run. Pages followed with a two-run shot just inside the left-field foul pole to make it 7-4.

The Mariners tied the score with single runs in the fourth, fifth and sixth.

Young led off the fourth with a homer to right.

In the fifth, Rodriguez singled and stole second. He advanced to third on Josh Naylor’s groundout and scored on Randy Arozarena’s sacrifice fly.

Church robbed Garver of a home run with a leaping catch at the left-field wall leading off the sixth. Young followed with a double and tied it at 7-all on pinch hitter Dominic Canzone’s single up the middle.

The Cardinals regained the lead in the seventh as Winn singled with one out and Church went deep to right-center.

–Field Level Media

Mariners right-hander Bryan Woo lasted just three innings and gave up seven runs on nine hits, including four homers

Cardinals lefty Matthew Liberatore allowed five runs on eight hits in 3 1/3 innings, with three homers.

source

Continue Reading