As Jordan Whitehead watched the NFL draft over the past few days and saw a number of players go before him, he began to get a bit anxious. When would his time come, he wondered. Who would take him?
The answer, eventually, was the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who took the Central Valley and Pitt product with the 17th pick of the fourth round on Saturday. Whitehead was the 117th player chosen in the draft, which began Thursday.
“You want to be the first one off the board at your position, so watching guys go in front of me, I got a little anxious," Whitehead said. “But it all worked out. God had a plan for me, and it was to go to Tampa Bay.”
Whitehead, a 5-foot-10, 198-pound safety who declared for the draft after his junior year, watched the draft with family and friends at the Pittsburgh Airport Marriott in Coraopolis on Friday and Saturday, expecting that he would either be a second- or third-day draft pick.
“I was definitely relieved. I was just sitting there waiting all day. When I got the call and when they announced my name it was a great feeling. I was grateful,” Whitehead said.
“I knew I was projected in the later rounds, so the 4th round is around where I expected. But everybody is hoping to be drafted earlier. At the end of the day, though, it doesn’t matter. Everybody has to come in and work.”
That Whitehead was selected by the Buccaneers didn’t come as a surprise. Tampa Bay met with Whitehead at the NFL Combine and also attended Pitt’s Pro Day. Having had a chance to explain his end of the story for why he was suspended for the first three games of his junior season, Tampa Bay felt comfortable in selecting Whitehead.
"They came down and watched film with me. I got to meet the DB coach and the head coach,” Whitehead said. “It’s really hard to judge a guy based on the off the field stuff that happened in college. So getting to meet with the coaches and explain myself and show them who I really am, it definitely helped a lot.”
Having grown up a Pittsburgh Steelers fan, Whitehead has few memories of watching the Buccaneers in the past, though he recalls watching some of their games when his cousin and Aliquippa native Darrelle Revis played for them in 2013. No matter, he’s excited for a fresh start in a new place, having spent his life to this point in the general Pittsburgh area.
“I’m excited to get some warm weather,” Whitehead said. “It’s definitely good to get away.”
Having been a safety — mostly a strong safety — the entirety of his Pitt career, in addition to playing a bit of running back, Whitehead’s expectation is that he’ll play safety at Tampa Bay. He also expects to contribute on special teams.
“All DB’s are special teams players. Defensive players are special teams players, so I’ll definitely go in there wanting to be a returner or anything else on special teams,” Whitehead said.
For now, Whitehead said he’ll take some time to celebrate and soak up this moment, of fulfilling a long-held goal. Then he’ll go to Tampa Bay in the next couple days and get to work for rookie mini-camp in May. Whitehead is confident that his time at Pitt learning under head coach Pat Narduzzi and former defensive backs coach Renaldo Hill has prepared him to seize the opportunity in front of him.
“Coach Narduzzi and Coach Hill are great,” Whitehead said. “Coach Hill had a lot of experience in the league and he knew what he was doing. He made us practice like the pros. So going into Tampa, I know that I’ll be ready.”