By William Hathaway, Jr.
The annual National Football League was held this past week in Cleveland, and for Essex County native, it was a special experience.
East Orange Campus High junior Jessica Felix is the captain of the newly formed 7 on 7 Girls Flag Football team at her school, which boasts the New York Jets as one of its sponsors. On May 2, she had the honor of announcing one of the team’s draft picks.
Felix was also a member of the East Orange varsity football team and played running back during her freshman season and sophomore years. Although the East Orange flag football squad has started off the season with a 0-2 start, Felix is hoping for more improvement during the seven game season, where every team makes the playoffs,
Back to the NFL Draft, as expected, the Jacksonville Jaguars took Clemons quarterback Trevor Lawrence with the first overall pick, while the Jets took BYU QB Zach Wilson with the second pick. The San Francisco 49ers took North Dakota QB Trey Lance with the third pick. The fourth QB to go in the 1st Round was Ohio State’s Justin Fields to the Chicago Bears, who traded with the NY Giants to get up to the 11th spot.
The Giants decided to move down after the Philadelphia Eagles moved up and took Alabama wide receiver Devonta Smith with the 10th pick. The Dallas Cowboys moved down to #12 and took Micah Collins from Penn State. The last QB in the 1st Round was Alabama’s Mac Jones to the New England Patriots at #15. As for the Giants, they picked up WR Kadarius Toney from Florida with the 20th pick.
Last year, the annual Kentucky Derby was held with no fans. This year, over 51,000 fans attended and saw Medina Spirit give trainer Bob Baffert his record 7th victory in the Derby. Meanwhile, race favorite Essential Quality finished fourth.
