NFL Draft fashion is getting louder, bolder, and more delightful

The NFL Draft is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for former college players players hoping to make their dreams come true. Rightfully so, lots of guys put on their nicest suits to get ready for the occasion.

And a lot of times, future NFL players use the night as a branding opportunity. A 2017 piece from Racked revealed how athletes’ boldest fashion choices are influenced by the endorsement deals they’ve lined up:

Typically, Otto starts lining up endorsement deals for players the day they sign with her. She and her team ask them questions like: What brands are you already into? What do you do when you’re not playing football? What products do you use without being paid to? Otto, who is working her 10th draft this year, says it’s about letting a player express his true style and then finding brands that are the best fit.

But there’s no doubt that fashion at the NFL Draft is a game of one-upmanship, too. Every year, the suits get louder, because young, budding NFL stars are driven to compete with those who’ve come before them.

This is an ode to the guys who take NFL Draft fashion to the next level.

No, I don’t mean it was literally lined with smoked meat, that would probably get a little messy. Not to mention he’d be surrounded by people hoping to get some jerky! No instead, Kizer had it lined with the Jack Links Beef Jerky sasquatch:

The jacket on the outside was a smooth shade of purple, with no sasquatches in sight:

Instead of a giant sasquatch, Chubb had a space-themed lining, fitting in with his “lift off” theme for the draft:

In 2015, former Florida Gator defensive lineman Dante Fowler, Jr. rocked these gold-on-gold ones:

A year later, Ole Miss’ Laremy Tunsil went with a similar look, but with a black shoe and gold spikes:

And in 2017, Deshaun Watson wore these silver spikes to go with his blue suit:

For the 2018 draft, Jackson rocked an all-Gucci outfit for the big night:

He even wore Gucci down to his shoes. Check out these bad boys:

In 2016, Elliot stole the show on the draft red carpet when he showed off his crop-top shirt underneath his suit jacket:

This fashion decision was about more than just showing off his six pack. Although Elliot never said so publicly, it’s safe to say the outfit was an homage to Elliot’s crop top jersey days at Ohio State:

It started out innocently enough. Elliott wore a crop-top jersey during the 2014 season at Ohio State. He said he wore it so defenders couldn’t grab his jersey as easy. Maybe he also wanted to show off his abs, maybe he liked the throwback look, maybe he thought it made him run faster. Whatever the reason, it became his trademark. Until the NCAA banned it for the 2015 season.

That didn’t stop Elliott. Instead of wearing a crop-top jersey all the time, he just found select times during the games to pull up his jersey. His outfit at the draft is really just on brand too. After all, Elliott did trademark ”Zeke’s Crop Top Bar and Grill.” He’s simply just getting a strong start to building his brand.

A year after he got selected in 2017, he teamed up with Pizza Hut and sported this amazing look:

As for the reasoning behind his Pizza Hut suit, well, he apparently just really likes it:

And he refuses endorsement deals with products he doesn’t use. This is very important to him.

”I want everything that’s organic, everything that’s naturally me,” [Smith-Schuster] says. “So ‘Call of Duty.’ Video games. I love video games. Pizza. So we did Pizza Hut.”

I interrupt. Pizza Hut is organically you?

”That’s organic JuJu. I’m not going to do Subway when I don’t like Subway. I won’t promote something that I don’t want.”

Oh yeah, and he did it again in 2019 for the NFL Awards!

This, of course, was to pay tribute to Brett Favre’s epic photo from his 1991 draft call:

The best part about all this is Favre played along!

Ray Lewis went with a Versace shirt and sunglasses when he was picked in 1996:

Who can forget Keyshawn Johnson’s all-white look?

Emmitt Smith rocked a polka-dotted vest!

Looks like Smith is wearing a mock turtle neck, too, which is an impressive touch, IMO.

Drop ‘em in the comments below!