During the 2023 NFL Draft last weekend, the Dallas Cowboys drafted Deuce Vaughn, the son of their assistant scouting director, in the sixth-round pick.
“I’m not thinking we’re taking Deuce, because when I come in, we’re talking about a couple other players as options,” father Chris Vaughn admitted during an interview with Sports Illustrated. “I commented on the guys we’re talking about, the positives, the negatives of taking him there. I’m completely team first, but yeah, there’s that inner struggle.”
“Once we finished that conversation, we as a group decided on a player,” he continued, reflecting on the pre-draft discussions that were had among his colleagues. “We went on the clock; I thought we were taking that player.”
According to the report, the assistant scout had no idea that they were going to choose his 21-year-old son. “I wrote over 350 evaluations on college players in this draft. I did not write one on him,” Chris Vaughn explained. “I never did an official report on him. Did all his teammates at Kansas State. They got drafted yesterday.”
“The dad in you wants to say, Hey, my son’s the highest-rated guy on the board right now. Why aren’t we considering him at this pick?” he added. “The professional in you, is like, We want what’s best for this organization.”
However, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones and other staff members knew that Deuce would make it onto the team. When Jones discreetly handed Chris a napkin, which had the name ‘Deuce Vaughn’ on it, he knew his son was a part of the franchise. “That when I was thinking, like, Oh my goodness, we’re gonna take him,” the father recalled.
Chris Vaughn appreciates his son’s love of the game
The moment in which the scouting agent called his son to break the news was even caught on camera, quickly going viral because of the wholesome family content.
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Although the running back, who rushed for 1,404 yards as a junior and 1,558 yards as a senior, despite his 5-5, 179-pound stature, was selected as pick number 212, his enthusiasm to still play for the Cowboys reflects his love for the game, according to Chris Vaughn.
“But it was huge in finding out if he loved football for the game itself and not for being the star or being the starting tailback,” the father said. “That told me a lot about him as a football player, and I think it’s what’s kind of made him who he is. He loves the process. He loves the game, not just what the game gives him.”
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