Avril Didn’t Have Good Draft Day

The Boiling Point: Former Purdue defensive end Cliff Avril had a rough draft day after falling into the third round.

With draft day approaching for the NFL, former Purdue defensive end and starting pass rusher for the Detroit Lions Cliff Avril relived his brutal draft day. Avril ended up going 92nd overall when the Lions picked him in the third round.

"“Honestly, draft day was horrible for me,” Avril said by phone last week to the Detroit Free Press. “I mean, it wasn’t horrible. I don’t want to say horrible, but initially I wasn’t too pleased with it.”"

Considering Avril has 19 sacks in his first three NFL seasons, which is almost as many as three Top-10 picks, Chris Long (17.5), Vernon Gholston (0) and Derrick Harvey (8) combined, Avril was a steal for Detroit. Avril expected to go in the middle of the second round and had to think about the snub overnight before the second day of the draft began with the third round.

"“When I didn’t get called that first day, honestly, I was angry,” Avril said. “I walked into the house, my mom was trying to talk to me, trying to calm me down, and that’s the first time I actually got an attitude with my mom and was like, ‘I don’t want to talk to anybody.’ That’s the first time ever and she knew it had to be something serious.”"

Purdue defensive end Ryan Kerigan is expected to have a much better draft-day experience this year as he’s projected to go off the board in the middle of the first round on Thursday.