The Carolina Panthers came into this draft hoping to leave with a pass-catching tight end. It took a while, but they did.
With the penultimate pick of the draft, No. 252 overall, they grabbed Beau Sandland out of Montana State.
Bozeman was actually Sandland's third college stop. A mix-up in high school courses forced him to spend two years at Los Angeles Pierce College. After developed into the top junior college tight end in the country, Sandland moved to Miami, hoping to follow in the footsteps of Jeremy Shockey, Kellen Winslow, and Sandland's new Panthers teammate, Greg Olsen.
"(Olsen) would come down there pretty regularly, just come in the meeting rooms, talk with us, answer questions," Sandland recalled on a conference call with Carolina media. "Great guy, great pro.
"That was one thing I actually talked about to Coach (Ron) Rivera on my visit. I was like, 'What a great opportunity for a young rookie tight end to be able to come in and learn from arguably the best tight end in the game right now.'"
Because he was a junior college transfer, Sandland's stay in Coral Gables wasn't going to be long. But after he had just nine catches with the Canes, he made a decision few would. After only one season in Miami, he was off to Montana.
"It was a business decision," he explained. "It was playing time. I wasn’t getting the playing time that I felt that I deserved or that I needed in order to put myself in the situation I am in today, playing in the NFL.
"Nobody likes to transfer, but I knew that for my future and my career and what I wanted to do for my life, that was the best thing for me. It ended up being, I think, one of the best things I have ever done."
Sandland's single season with the Bobcats — 37 receptions, 632 yards, 9 touchdowns — put him on the NFL radar. And while he had to wait just as long as the Panthers to find a final connection, at least it wasn't the very end.
When asked if he was relieved he wasn't "Mr. Irrelevant," the title that goes to the last pick of the draft, Sandland quickly replied:
"Very glad. I know that they make a big circus of it, and there’s a parade and all the big deal. So I didn’t want to be the Mr. Irrelevant."