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NASHVILLE, April 24 (UPI) -- Many players will be surrounded by family before, during and after the 2019 NFL Draft, but Missouri's Drew Lock has more peculiar plans when it comes to getting himself in the right mindset for Thursday's first round in Nashville. He'll be playing Yahtzee.
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Lock is slated to be one of the first quarterbacks selected in this year's class. The 6-foot-4, 225-pound gunslinger has been playing the game for years with Tigers backup quarterbacks. He'll do the same in his hotel room before his life changes dramatically.
"I'm definitely going to play some Yahtzee," Lock said Wednesday at Nissan Stadium. "That's what me and my backup did on Friday nights at the hotel."
"You are deciding if you are going to take a full house or a three of a kind, but you're still actually thinking something."
While Lock is among several options to be the first quarterback selected, Mississippi's D.K. Metcalf is in the mix to be the first wide receiver off of the board. The 6-foot-3, 228-pound pass-catcher cruised up draft boards after running a 4.33-second 40-yard dash and showing off with a 40.5-inch vertical jump at the NFL Scouting Combine.
Metcalf's stature might be intimidating, but the smile on his face when he talked about being drafted showed just how much the moment means to him.
"It's going to be great," Metcalf said. "Tonight I'm going to spend time with my family, enjoying the last few moments of me not knowing where I'm going to be. Hopefully tomorrow it's all going to change."
"My family has been there through it all," Metcalf added. "My mom, my dad, sisters, brothers, grandma ... they never changed and never left my side."
Metcalf is expected to be a middle-to-late first round or early second round pick.
Duke quarterback Daniel Jones said he'll walk up to Kings of Leon's Waste a Moment after his name is called in the draft. Mock drafts have Jones going anywhere from the middle of the first round to the second round. He plans to stay around his family during the process.
"It's kind of a weird feeling to think about," Jones said. "These last three months you are preparing for this moment, preparing for the draft but all the while not really knowing where you are going to be. I think that's a strange feeling. I'm not sure there is anything quite like it, but I'm excited. I think whatever happens tomorrow night, wherever I have opportunity to play, I'll be excited. Playing in the NFL is a dream, so just to be here is awesome."
Ohio State's Nick Bosa is another candidate to be the No. 1 overall pick in the 2019 NFL Draft. Bosa said he doesn't plan on waiting too long to hear his named called and learn of his next destination. He'll join Pro Bowl brother Joey Bosa in the pro pigskin ranks. Bosa's older sibling was the No. 3 overall pick in the 2016 NFL Draft.
He expects an emotional scene in Nashville after his entry into the NFL is made official.
"I was here with [Joey] a couple years ago, and right when he got his name called we just broke down," Bosa said. "I think it will be similar this time. I think he just wants me to go wherever is best for me, whether it's one, two, three, four, or wherever. We are just really happy and blessed to be here ... both of us."
"I'm kept pretty busy right now so I'm not able to think about it quite as much, but it's awesome. It's what I've been working for since I was 7-years-old. I really think it will hit me tomorrow. I'm really excited to find out where the next journey is."
Oklahoma's Marquise "Hollywood" Brown is anything but Hollywood-like when it comes to personality. The soft-spoken speed demon is another projected first-round talent. Brown said he didn't set the goal to reach the NFL until he arrived on campus in Norman. Before that his goal was just to play Division I football.
"I live in the moment," Brown said. "I take it goal-by-goal."
The first round of the 2019 NFL Draft kicks off at 8 p.m. EDT Thursday in Nashville. Day 2 begins at 7 p.m. Friday and includes the second and third rounds. The final day of the draft begins at noon on Saturday and includes rounds four through seven.
