The NFL Draft is a time for players to dress up, head to New York City, and soak in a fun evening that’s all about them. It’s a time when they can embrace Roger Goodell before spending the rest of their careers cursing him. The NFL Draft is also a time when players are shown on TV with their family members by their side. That means the draft is a time when wives and/or girlfriends become stars for the first time.
Though our history of greatest WAG moments in the NFL Draft really only explores recent years when the Internet was in top form to pick up on the best-looking better halves, we’ll do our best to recap some of the best moments of NFL Draft WAG history.
Ryan Tannehill was the No. 8 overall pick in last year’s draft by the Miami Dolphins, but if you were drafting players based on WAG rankings, he would have gone first overall. His wife, Lauren, received some camera time when he was shown on TV. She absolutely stunned in her red dress. A few months later she did a modeling photoshoot that received plenty of attention on the Internet. It supposedly was for Maxim, but they turned it down.
The Manning brothers generally like to keep their personal lives private. Think about it: Have you ever seen Peyton Manning’s wife? The dude is married, but I’ll bet you couldn’t pick her out of a WAG lineup. Anyway, when younger brother Eli was drafted No. 1 overall by the San Diego Chargers in 2004 and later traded to the New York Giants, he posed for pictures on the stage. That was the first time many of us had ever seen his then-girlfriend Abby, who later became his wife. The two are expecting their second child in June.
Confusion rained down in 2011 when Greg McElroy was waiting to be selected. The former Alabama quarterback was not a top draft prospect, so he was not expected to go in the first few rounds. However, he was one of the bigger names around later in the draft. As he waited and waited to be called, cameras continued to show him with his family. His attractive sister Blair, who is not shy around the camera, began to receive all sorts of attention. People mistakenly identified her as Greg’s girlfriend. The truth is that Blair McElroy is dating Jeremy Shelley, who just completed his senior season as Alabama’s kicker. Greg McElroy’s girlfriend is a woman by the name of Meredith Gray. We have more pictures and a story that explains it all here.
Matt Kalil’s ridiculously attractive family threw everyone for a loop last year when the former USC offensive lineman went fourth overall to the Minnesota Vikings. People were struggling to figure out whom they liked more: Kalil’s mother, Cheryl (in red), who is a model, or his sister, Danielle (yellow), who is also attractive. Then there was the whole matter of Kalil supposedly dating beauty pageant competitor Mary Kate Fitzpatrick at the time (they no longer seem to be together). She’s below.
Russell Wilson’s wife, Ashley, became Internet famous last year for all the wrong reasons. As her husband slipped in the draft, there were a lot of long faces at the family’s draft viewing party. When Russell finally got the call from the Seahawks saying they would be picking him in the third round, Ashley went absolutely berserk. Unfortunately for her, it was all caught on camera.
It’s hard to top the reaction from Ashley Wilson to her husband being drafted, but we do have one that beats them all.
