SEATTLE _ Just before 8 Thursday night, Kaleb McGary got up from his faux leather recliner and, without saying a word, disappeared into the front bedroom of his third-story Seattle apartment.
The 6-foot-7, 320-pound offensive lineman from the University of Washington re-emerged a minute later wielding a 5-foot-tall Danish war ax _ that's right, a Danish war ax _ and sat back down in the recliner.
He began to sharpen the ax blade, doing so in the quiet, rote manner in which one might typically brush his teeth, and at this moment it seemed only natural for one to wonder if the stress and uncertainty of the NFL draft _ about to begin its fourth hour _ had boiled over into dangerous territory for McGary.
Finally, he looked up from the ax and offered a slight shrug of his shoulders. "I'm a medieval buff," he explained.
This Viking-inspired fascination later served to explain what McGary said he plans to do with his first NFL paycheck.
"Oh, I'm buying (a new) sword," he said with a laugh.
McGary could probably arm an entire "Game of Thrones" army now, after the Atlanta Falcons selected him with the second-to-last pick of the first round Thursday night.
The Falcons liked McGary enough to trade up and grab him with the 31st pick, making him the first UW offensive lineman since Lincoln Kennedy in 1993 to go in the first round and, more important, making McGary an immediate millionaire.
Inside the apartment McGary shares with his longtime girlfriend Brianna, a mixture of relief and disbelief greeted his selection. His draft-night get-together was intimate. There was McGary's mom, Cassandra; dad, Justin; brother, Jonah; agents Cameron Foster and Collin Roberts; and Fumble, the pet cat.
They screamed in celebration when McGary clicked off his new iPhone XR after a call with Falcons owner Arthur Blank.
They screamed again a minute later when McGary's name was read aloud on TV by NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell as the 31st pick.
"I can't believe it. I can't believe it," McGary kept saying. "It actually happened. I'm so happy. I'm so (expletive) happy."
"You earned it, son," Justin told him. "You worked your ass off for this."
