Newport Beach, still home to Irrelevant Week, welcomes Red Murdock as 51st Mr. Irrelevant

When word got out that Irrelevant Week could look to take its show on the road, the Newport Beach community spoke up to keep the tradition in town.

Melanie Salata Fitch, the chief executive of Irrelevant Week, said that teams around the National Football League had shown interest in bringing the celebration to their cities, to share the festivities with their fans.

After completing five full decades of roasting and toasting the last pick in the NFL Draft, Salata Fitch thought it might be the right time for the show to travel. The local community 's persistence persuaded her otherwise.

Advertisement "They really reacted, " Salata Fitch said of how longtime followers of Irrelevant Week responded to the rumors. "They said, 'No, no, no ' ... Everybody likes to see him, meet him, and they do it year after year. They say, 'I want to meet the guy this year. I want to meet Mr. Irrelevant this year.'"

There are a handful of active Mr. Irrelevants, including San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy, as well as defensive end Desjuan Johnson and linebacker Grant Stuard, both of whom are with the Los Angeles Rams, and New England Patriots defensive back Kobee Minor.

"It 's neat that they 're still playing, and the people that saw them in the Orange County community, they like to follow these guys, " Salata Fitch said. "They meet him and get a connection with him, so that 's why it 's here.

"I 'll have to revisit about next year. Someone from the league office was out here, and he was asking me, 'Do I want to move around or not move around ?' I said, 'I just need to think about it, ' because it 's just been a really good response this year."

Salata Fitch added that when her father, Paul Salata, founded Irrelevant Week, he wanted it to be in Newport Beach so that the honorees could experience "all the neat things about Orange County."

Newport Beach welcomed Khalil "Red " Murdock, the 51st member of the Mr. Irrelevant fraternity, at the Lowsman Banquet on Wednesday evening at Cannery Seafood of the Pacific.

Murdock, a University at Buffalo linebacker selected 257th overall by the Denver Broncos, ranked second in the nation in tackles in 2024 and 2025.

Banquet emcee Paul McDonald, a former NFL quarterback primarily with the Cleveland Browns, suggested the Lowsman Trophy, designed to depict a ball carrier fumbling, in contrast to the Heisman Trophy displaying the offensive player executing a stiff arm, was "apropos, " citing Murdock 's NCAA record with 17 forced fumbles across his collegiate career.

Murdock, who attended Hopewell High in Virginia, spent a season at Fork Union Military Academy in a postgraduate program. Frank Arritt, his coach at Fork Union, was a guest at the banquet.

Arritt referred to Murdock as a "natural leader, " adding "you can 't find a more professional person."

"Fork Union 's a military school, so that means no long hair, no beards, and no cellphones, " Arritt said. "Those are the first things we tell them when they try out for us to get on our roster. The one thing that somebody echoed to me, when he was in the locker room, somebody was complaining, saying, 'Oh man, I can 't believe I have to give up my phone, can 't believe I got to cut my hair, ' and Red, his hair was all the way down his back.

"He turned and told the guy, 'I don 't care [about having to give up those things ] because I 'm coming here for a purpose to get this thing done.' That was just his mentality with everything. He 's willing to make sacrifices and all those things to be great."

Jaydel Jenkins, a teammate of Murdock 's at Buffalo and a former All- Orange County wide receiver at San Clemente, surprised Mr. Irrelevant upon his arrival.

"I knew he got drafted, and I had no idea this whole thing went on, " said Jenkins, who said his mother knew one of the organizers of the event. "My mom was like, 'They got Mr. Irrelevant going on up in Newport, ' so I was like, 'Oh yeah ? I 'd love to come support him.' This is the first time seeing him since probably our bowl game a year ago.

"Just being able to see him, see his goals from back then starting to come to fruition for him, it 's just awesome. It 's amazing to see."

Murdock arrived via yacht, stumbled as the boat docked - to the amusement of several onlookers awaiting his company at the party upstairs - then ended up in the arms of Jenkins when he found him at the back of the room.

The evening went off as many longtime supporters have remembered it, not complete until the sitting mayor of Newport Beach, currently Lauren Kleiman, had presented the key to the city and several others had their opportunity to crack jokes and share well wishes.

Regarding his first impression of the Irrelevant Week crowd, Murdock said, "It 's a lot of friendly people."

Pop culture knowledge would prove vital for social survival, with a quiz testing Mr. Irrelevant on the identities of everybody and everything from movie anchor Ron Burgundy to naming bands based on pictures with their members. Murdock had plenty of help from a vocal gallery.

At one point, Matt Willig, who went into acting after a 14- year NFL career, executed a screen test on Murdock, dressing him up as Star Wars character Darth Vader and asking him to say one iconic line : "Luke, I am your father."

McDonald also presented him with a Denver Broncos watch.

"Normally, you do this when you retire, but we 're doing it now because we 're not sure how long you 're going to be playing, " McDonald said in jest. "So we 're going to do it up front, which is a cool thing. I think you 're going to play for a long time."

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