HOUSTON — On the evening of the 2016 NFL draft, at 7:47 p.m., Laremy Tunsil’s phone started to ring. He took a quick look at it but chose to ignore the notifications because he believed that the supporters were making fun of him before of the draft.
The Ole Miss left tackle returned his attention to his family and the once-in-a-lifetime experience at the Chicago Auditorium Theatre’s green room.
“I picked up my phone to check the time,” Tunsil said to ESPN. “Everyone’s comments were involved. I simply put it down as soon as I saw it.
The remarks were about the draft, but they were about something that would unnecessarily make him the center of attention. Tunsil was unaware that his Twitter account had been compromised. Jimmy Sexton, his agent at the time, quickly informed Tunsil’s draft party in the green room.
Tunsil initially attempted to dismiss it, unsure of the specifics of what had been released online. A few seconds later, he became aware that a video had appeared showing him smoking marijuana while donning a black gas mask, then laughing and removing the mask.
The night that was meant to mark the start of the NFL career he had always dreamed of swiftly turned into a nightmare. Tunsil immediately wanted to remove the footage.
“I was panicking a little bit, and I’m just like ‘Don’t let my mom and my auntie see this,'” Tunsil recalled. “How can we get this cleaned up and remove this as fast as possible?” However, the harm had already been done.
The password was changed, and he was unable to access his account. The draft had begun by the time he managed to get into his account and remove the message. “We knew it was going to affect him,” Mel Kiper Jr., a senior draft expert for ESPN, stated.
However, we were all unsure of how much it would hurt him overall. The Ravens selected [left tackle] Ronnie Stanley, but they could have been a No. 6 pick.I recall thinking, “Okay, now we could see a slide,” when Baltimore passed.
The demands of other top ten clubs were more pressing. Throughout draft night, the footage of Tunsil circulated on TV and social media, and the Miami Dolphins were selected at No. 13—a projected top-10 pick.
After the Baltimore Ravens passed on Tunsil for Stanley, who got a four-year rookie contract worth $20.48 million, Tunsil signed a four-year, $12.46 million contract in Miami, costing him about $8 million.
Before agreeing to a three-year, $66 million contract deal with the Houston Texans in 2020—a year after the Dolphins traded for him several first-round selection picks—Tunsil bore the weight of draft night. In Houston, Tunsil has protected quarterback C.J. Stroud’s blind side, earned four Pro Bowls, and twice risen to the top of the league’s left tackle salary rankings.
Houston will rely on Tunsil to lead the offensive line against the defending two-time Super Bowl champions when the Texans (9-5) travel to play the Kansas City Chiefs (13-1) on Saturday (1 p.m. ET, NBC). The guilt of that night has faded over the years, and he admits it’s easier to discuss now.
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