Tomorrow, the opening round of the 2018 NFL draft will take place in Dallas and see league commissioner Roger Goodell, standing in a constant rain of boos, announce the 32 first selections. On day two, Goodell will not be as busy as players from the 32 clubs will make each of a franchise's picks in the second and third rounds public. The honors for the New England Patriots this year will be handed by ex-Patriots Deion Branch and Ty Warren.
Branch, who was picked by the Patriots in the second round of the 2011 draft out of Louisville, will serve as the announcer in round two. The MVP of Super Bowl 39 played a combined 104 games for New England. Warren, meanwhile, will announce the Patriots' round three selections. Drafted in the first round one year after Branch, the Texas A&M product went on to win two Super Bowls with the Patriots and was voted as a member of the team's team of the 2000s.
The duo will step into the footsteps of former franchise greats like Willie McGinest and Kevin Faulk, who announced draft picks in previous years. Of course, both McGinest and Faulk had memorable moments at the podium: The former basked in the boos by the then-New York crowd before calling the pick of “your New England an my New England Patriots”, while the latter – in the middle of the Deflategate farce – wore a Tom Brady jersey.
Whether Branch or Warren will enter the realm of great Patriots performances at the draft remains to be seen. But they will certainly make for more entertaining television than Roger Goodell.