New York Jets select Alabama’s Jaylen Key with Mr. Irrelevant pick

If the University of Alabama shows interest in a football player, the odds are schools from coast to coast lined up to sign the recruit.

The Crimson Tide were a perennial power in the college football landscape under Nick Saban, a period that spans the entirety of the football-watching memory for most draft-eligible players.

Such programs get their first choice more often than not, which adds to the intrigue for the newest Mr. Irrelevant, a title annually bestowed upon the last pick in the NFL draft.

The New York Jets selected Alabama safety Jaylen Key with the 257th and final pick of the 2024 NFL Draft on Saturday in Detroit.

Key transferred to Alabama for his last year of college eligibility after spending the previous five seasons with the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

He started in 12 of 14 games for the Crimson Tide this fall, making 60 tackles and recording one interception. Alabama reached the College Football Playoff, where it lost to eventual champion Michigan 27-20 in the Rose Bowl. Key made four tackles in the contest.

There is a growing track record of on-the-field accomplishment by the Mr. Irrelevant family. That list includes quarterback Brock Purdy, who set the bar higher by taking the San Francisco 49ers to the Super Bowl in his second season.

A 6-foot-2, 210-pound native of Quincy, Fla., Key will soon head out to the west coast for the Irrelevant Week festivities in Newport Beach.

Key also became the second player out of Alabama to be selected as Mr. Irrelevant, joining Ramzee Robinson, a cornerback chosen by the Detroit Lions in 2007.

Irrelevant Week chief executive Melanie Salata Fitch and her family were on stage at the draft to announce the pick. The tradition of Mr. Irrelevant was established by former NFL wide receiver Paul Salata in 1976.

“We’re excited to celebrate our first Irrelevant Jet player and bring him out to Newport Beach,” said Salata Fitch, who is targeting a late June return for Irrelevant Week. “When you’re a Jet, you’re a Jet all the way.”

While the exact date for the Lowsman Banquet has not been determined, Salata Fitch said the event will remain at the Cannery Seafood of the Pacific in Newport Beach.

Other traditional activities for Irrelevant Week are expected to continue, including a visit with the Newport Beach junior lifeguards and the popular surfing lesson with Peter “PT” Townend.