The NFL draft existed for 74 years as a synecdoche of the NFL itself: uptight, staid, formal, and less interesting than its TV ratings would suggest. 2010’s third-overall pick, Gerald McCoy, disrupted those decades of decorum when instead of accepting a hearty handshake from Roger Goodell, he instead enveloped the commissioner with a mighty bear hug—and set the tone for management-labor practices among the league’s newest, newest hires. For a while, at least.

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