Mr. Irrelevant gets the ‘Key’ to Newport Beach
Jaylen Key has got the famous New York Jets chant down pretty well already.
“J-E-T-S! Jets, Jets, Jets!,” Key said on Tuesday night, pumping his fist in rhythm.
Key, a safety from Alabama, is the newest member of the Mr. Irrelevant fraternity after the Jets selected him with the 257th pick — dead last — in this year’s NFL Draft.
That means he and family members flew out to Newport Beach to take place in the 49th annual Irrelevant Week festivities, founded by the late Paul Salata with the premise of doing something nice for someone for no reason.
The keystone of the week is the Lowsman Banquet, which was held Tuesday night at the Cannery restaurant. By tradition, the roasts there for Mr. Irrelevant, while good-natured, aren’t always particularly nice.
Ron Brown, a former NFL player and Olympic track relay champion, greeted Key with a Jets jacket and a quip after Mr. Irrelevant arrived via boat.
“They wanted me to roast you, man, but I couldn’t do that,” Brown said. “I figured when you’re a Jet, it’s already bad.”
Key, 24, seeks to make an impact for a Jets team that hasn’t made the playoffs since 2010, the longest postseason drought in the four major sports.
Originally from Quincy, Fla., Key spent five seasons up the road at University of Alabama at Birmingham before transferring to Alabama for his final collegiate season.
“How many years were you in college?,” longtime Irrelevant Week supporter Matt Willig, who started his own 14-year NFL career with the Jets, ribbed Key. “Like seven? I thought maybe you went to [USC], the seven-year program.”
Willig himself is a Trojan alumnus, as was Salata, as, for that matter, were many other people at the Lowsman Banquet. Another former Trojan and one of the more famous Jets, quarterback Mark Sanchez, also gave words of advice but joked that Key would be receiving a pay decrease when leaving Alabama for the NFL.
“You know how many times I heard that from people when I was at USC and in the NFL, ‘what was the pay cut like?’” Sanchez said. “It was like, ‘All right, dude, relax.’ I just had to use that on somebody else. I’m just really paying it forward here.”
Key also received the key to the city from Newport Beach Mayor Will O’Neill and a big surfboard from Fire Chief Jeff Boyles, among other special gifts. The event also featured a live auction and raised money for Children’s Hospital of Orange County and the Orange County Youth Sports Foundation.
Key has already done a lot since landing in Orange County on Saturday with his father Elijah and two of his sisters. He said he enjoyed jet-skiing, and going to an Angels baseball game Monday night. He got to hit in the batting cages inside the stadium.
“I played baseball growing up, so it was good to get a couple of cuts in, kind of relive the dream,” Key said. “It’s been cool to see everyone around the city. There’s quite a bit of Jets fans out here, actually, and Alabama fans. I guess we’re everywhere.”
Wednesday’s schedule brought a trip to the NFL Network and Fox Sports in Los Angeles for interviews, followed by a “Jet Around Newport” event in conjunction with Newport Run Club.
Irrelevant Week CEO Melanie Salata-Fitch said that on Thursday morning Key will learn how to surf at 30th Street and be the guest of the Newport Beach Junior Lifeguards, before getting out on the water again as part of the Beercan Sailing Regatta.
He and his family leave town Friday. John Ireland, a Corona del Mar High grad, Los Angeles Lakers radio play-by-play announcer and longtime Lowsman Banquet emcee, noted that Key will have a huge rooting section from now on.
“Even though we’ve been pulling your leg all night and making fun of you, you won’t find a group of bigger fans of yours than the people in this room,” Ireland told Key.
Kay was presented the Lowsman Trophy, which depicts a player fumbling a football.
Ryan Succop was Mr. Irrelevant in 2009 and had a long career as an NFL kicker. But nowadays the most famous Mr. Irrelevant is 2022 honoree Brock Purdy, a quarterback who took the San Francisco 49ers to the Super Bowl in February.
“Brock Purdy’s really proved himself,” Salata-Fitch said. “He’s like a machine. More power to him. And Desjuan Johnson, who got drafted by the Rams last year [to become Mr. Irrelevant No. 48], he made the team. Maybe we’ll have a trifecta.”
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