Brewer selected 117th by Giants, Doss slides to Baltimore with 123rd pick

    James Brewer’s phone began to ring. This was the call he had been waiting for his entire life.

It was the second round of the NFL Draft, and a number Brewer didn’t recognize popped up on his phone.

This was it.

“My heart was in my throat,” Brewer said. “And then she said, ‘Oh, it’s Grandma.’ I was like ‘Please don’t call me right now.’”

Brewer thought for sure he’d go in the third round of the NFL Draft.

That’s where all the experts had him going.

When the third round began, Brewer waited anxiously. He looked down at his phone after each pick, sure he would be selected next.

But the round came and went, and Brewer’s name wasn’t called.

The former IU offensive lineman began to get nervous. He stayed up watching ESPN’s draft analysis again and again until 4 a.m.

“I tried to go to sleep and couldn’t,” Brewer said. “I was thinking about all the guys who had been picked and who was still left. You’re almost running a mock draft in your head, thinking ‘Where could I go?’”

Brewer woke up early Saturday to drive to his mom’s apartment in Indianapolis. Just 20 minutes before the draft was set to resume, Brewer got another phone call from a number he didn’t have saved in his phone.

It was the Miami Dolphins.

“I was thinking, ‘This is the call,’” Brewer said.  

But they didn’t want to draft him — they just wanted to make sure they had his information correct.

Luckily for Brewer, he didn’t have to wait too much longer.

With just two minutes remaining for the New York Giants to make their fourth-round selection with the 117th pick, Brewer’s phone rang again. This time, it was the real thing.

“Their GM (Jerry Reese) called and asked what I was doing,” he said. “I was like, ‘Uh, I’m laying on the couch watching the draft.’ Then he said ‘This is so-and-so with the Giants, and we’re getting ready to draft you.’

“I was in shock. The conversation was so one-sided because I had so much was going on in my head and I couldn’t speak. It was like a weight had been lifted to see my name up there on the screen.”

As soon as Brewer hung up with Reese, he got a call from his position coach. The problem was Brewer couldn’t hear a word he was saying. His phone was blowing up with congratulatory calls and text messages.

“My phone just kept beeping and beeping and beeping,” Brewer said. “My voice mail was full in 20 minutes. By the time I got off the phone with the position coach, I had about 60 text messages and so many missed calls.”

The call that meant the most came a few minutes after Brewer was done talking to the Giants. Former IU wide receiver Terrance Turner, who also entered the draft but wasn’t selected, wanted to tell Brewer how proud he was of him.

“He was just so happy for me,” Brewer said. “It was like a brother calling me. It meant a lot.”

In retrospect, Brewer said he’s happy he was selected when he was. He now gets to join an organization that has had a great deal of success, including a Super Bowl title in 2008.

Brewer said he plans to continue to work out twice a day and wait for the lockout to end. He said his only challenge will be learning the playbook, not getting in shape.

He is ready for his next challenge: protecting an NFL quarterback.

“To block for Eli will be a big challenge for me,” Brewer said. “But I kind of happy I’m blocking for this Manning and not his older brother.”

Doss to join Hardy in Baltimore

Former IU wide receiver Tandon Doss was drafted in the fourth round (123rd
overall) by the Baltimore Ravens. Doss will join another former IU wideout, James Hardy, who signed a contract with the Ravens earlier this year.

Doss had been projected to go anywhere from the second to fourth round but probably slipped because of his 40-yard dash time (4.62 seconds) at his April 6 pro day.

“When you deal with a range like that, sometimes you go on the high side and sometimes you go on the low side,” Doss’ agent Jared Fox said. “We were looking at a range between 75 and 125, and he went a 123. He just went on the low side of that, and that’s the kind of balance you get sometimes.

“They don’t clock your 40 time every Sunday, but they do measure you on how you catch balls.”

Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco was asked to come up with a list of six receivers that would be available in the middle rounds, and Doss was at the top of that list.

“Where he ended up was the right place for him to be,” Fox said. “It’s a good organization that values him and needs him. Baltimore has a lot of good receivers, but they aren’t young guys. These guys aren’t going to play forever.”

Brewer said he called to congratulate Doss after he was drafted but couldn’t talk to him because Doss’ friend had taken his phone.

“It’s really cool that two IU guys are playing on the same team up there,” Brewer said. “I’m really happy for (Doss).”

Fox said Doss will remain in Indianapolis to train for next season.

Doss could not be reached for comment.