First overall pick no longer in play for high-motor Long

On Thursday afternoon, Chris Long was touring Manhattan on a bus with several of the projected top choices in this weekend’s NFL Draft. Come Saturday, the pride of Charlottesville could buy the entire fleet of buses.
The Virginia All-American defensive end could go as high as the No. 2 overall choice in the draft, which will automatically make him a millionaire many times over — but don’t expect that to change Chris Long.
While other prospects might be sweating when their name will be called, Long just wants a chance to play for somebody ... anybody.
“When it’s your kid, you tend to worry about things like that,” said Chris’s father, Howie Long, a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame. “But Chris said to me, ‘Look dad, I’m going to get a chance to do what I’ve always wanted to do and I’ll get paid more than you ever imagined that I would, so relax.’
“I thought to myself, ‘Shouldn’t I be having this conversation with him?’” Howie Long said. “He’s one of the most unflappable people I’ve ever been around. He’s so mentally tough. I think he got that from his mama.”
Diane Long, Chris’s mom, is in New York with him until draft day, when Howie will fly up and be joined by Virginia head coach Al Groh and St. Anne’s-Belfield head coach John Blake, among others. Younger brothers Kyle and little Howie will not make the trip, choosing to stay at home for the St. Anne’s junior-senior prom.
Chris will have plenty to tell them about upon his return home.
On Thursday, the NFL took the five or six top players invited up for the draft, to an ESPN production meeting, then to Radio City Music Hall, site of this weekend’s draft. That’s just part of the whirlwind of activities Chris Long has been involved in during recent weeks.
He has been to Oakland to meet with Raiders owner Al Davis, and to St. Louis, where he spent a lot of time watching film with the Rams’ coaching staff. St. Louis, which owns the No. 2 pick, is in the market for a pass rusher and Long could fit their bill even though the Rams play a 4-3 defense as opposed to the 3-4 in which Long has excelled.
“I got up with all their [Rams] coaches,” Long said. “I felt very positive about everything they put up on the board when we watched film. Anything they ask me to do there, I feel I’m capable of doing. The schemes and positions they have me at seem doable.”
St. Louis essentially told Long that if he is their pick, they project him as a defensive end that could be moved inside in some situations, and that they could move him around. That would not be a difficult transition for him because Groh often moved Long to various locations on Virginia’s defensive line to take advantage of personnel mismatches.
“A lot of [St. Louis’s] terminology and line play I recognized from what coach [Mike] London [UVa’s former defensive coordinator] taught me,” Long said. “It seemed like it would be an easy transition.”
For weeks it appeared that Long might be the No. 1 pick of the draft until the Miami Dolphins signed Michigan offensive lineman Jake Long. Since then, Dolphins general manager Bill Parcells revealed that had the negotiations with the Michigan lineman fallen apart, then Miami was ready to make Chris Long the top choice.
“I kind of saw that coming,” Chris Long said. “I’m not really into the No. 1 thing. If that’s what happened, cool ... but I’m more focused about what happens after the draft.”
There remains the possibility - should St. Louis take another player - that Chris Long could end up being taken by the Oakland Raiders, the same organization that father Howie rose to stardom with. The younger Long said that during his trip to Oakland he met with longtime owner Davis in his office.
“It was an honor to meet [Davis],” Chris said. “I remember as a kid, seeing him. It was cool to talk to him in his office.”
There is some belief that going to Oakland might become a strain, having to follow in his father’s footsteps, but Chris said that doesn’t bother him.
“It’s a real possibility,” he said. “But at the same time, no matter what pressure that brings it’s just another place I would have to prove myself.”
He continues to say that all he wants is a chance and he doesn’t care what team takes him, that at the end of the day, someone will be paying him a whole lot of money to play football. Should he drop - a la former Notre Dame quarterback Brady Quinn - down to the 10th slot, Chris said he doesn’t care because the better teams are picking at that point.
What was that Howie said about Chris being unflappable?
Whatever happens, it is most unusual for an NFL star’s son to follow those footsteps to the league, particularly as a potential top five draft choice.
“The odds of it happening are so slim, particularly at the level he’s played,” Howie said. “This has been a real treat for both Diane and me.”
Blake, who coached Chris at St. Anne’s, is elated at his former player’s success.
“I’m so proud that I don’t know what to say,” Blake noted. “The one thing I will always say about Chris is that I’m not just proud of him being a football player, but the kind of kid he is. The way he keeps his head on his shoulders impresses me every day.
“We’re all excited and happy for him and his family and proud that he went to school here,” Blake said.
Speaking of St. Anne’s, the Longs will probably be flying home Saturday night because Diane doesn’t want to miss another big event. The last dance at the prom is supposed to be with the mother, and that will make her day complete.