NFL hopefuls prepare to hug it out with Roger Goodell

Congratulations. You’ve made it to the NFL. Get that handshake out of here and hug your new boss. Seriously, the bigger the better.

Such is life for NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and first-round picks in the NFL Draft, at least since 2010 when a 300-pound defensive tackle named Gerald McCoy took the league’s top executive into his 33-inch arms.

Overseeing his third draft as commissioner that year, Goodell met Sam Bradford and Ndamukong Suh, that year’s top picks, with a traditional handshake. The next pick had other ideas. After being taken third overall by Tampa Bay, the newly minted Buccaneer surprised everyone by ignoring the commissioner’s outstretched hand in favor of a long, heartfelt bear hug.

McCoy recalled the moment to ESPN’s Doug Williams.

“When I was hugging him, he said, like, ‘You’re crushing me right now’ and he kind of gasped for air like I was squeezing the life out of him, which I was,” said McCoy. “I was just excited.”

Naturally, Trent Williams, the fourth pick in that year’s draft wouldn't leave the stage without a hug of his own and a tradition was born. With the exception of 2020 when the Covid-19 pandemic forced the NFL to hold a virtual draft, first-round picks have gotten hugs from Goodell ever since.