Matt Rhule claims he was vetoed from putting Brock Purdy on Panthers’ draft board in 2022

Was Mr. Irrelevant almost Mr. Carolina?

On Wednesday, University of Nebraska head football coach Matt Rhule revealed an interesting little nugget from his last draft with the Carolina Panthers. He told reporters that he was interested in selecting quarterback Brock Purdy—who is about to play on the game’s biggest stage in a couple of days.

“I think Brock Purdy is an amazing player, because I played against him at Iowa State,” Rhule said during his program’s national signing day press conference. “When I was in the draft room at Carolina, I brought his name up. I said, ‘Hey, guys, he should be on the draft board. I got vetoed on that one.”

Well, he may not be pulling out the ol’ used car salesman pitch. Both Joe Person of The Athletic and Benjamin Allbright of KOA Colorado subsequently noted that there is at least some truth to Rhule’s claim.

Purdy, of course, ended up going to the San Francisco 49ers with the 262nd overall pick.