The most celebrated selection in the NFL Draft isn’t the first one. It’s the last one, as Jaylen Key has found out this week.

The New York Jets chose the Alabama safety at No. 257 in the NFL Draft on April 27. As the final pick in the draft, Key became 2024′s Mr. Irrelevant, and he’s enjoying that status as the guest of honor at Irrelevant Week in Newport Beach, California.

Begun in 1976, Irrelevant Week celebrates the last player picked in the NFL Draft annually.

“You kind of know what Mr. Irrelevant is, but you don’t know it’s a whole celebration,” Key said during an appearance on NFL Network on Wednesday. “I wouldn’t want it no other way, obviously. It’s been great. … Got to meet a lot of people, sign a lot of autographs. But it’s been fun – great food, great people.”

The celebration concludes on Thursday with Key taking a surfing lesson, watching a Beer Can Summer Series race aboard a 48-foot sailboat in Newport Harbor and attending a barbecue at the Balboa Yacht Club.

The week started on Sunday with a church service and jet-skiing, and among his activities, Key went on to attend the Oakland Athletics-Los Angeles Angels game on Monday night, undertake a boxing workout and get roasted at the Lowsman Banquet.

“They wanted me to roast you, man, but I couldn’t do that,” former All-Pro kick returner and Olympic gold medalist Ron Brown told Key. “I figured when you’re a Jet, it’s already bad.”

Key reached the Jets after six seasons in college. Following a redshirt season in 2018 at UAB, Key started one game and registered 18 tackles for the Blazers over the next three years. But in 2022, he had 60 tackles and one interception and made honorable mention on the All-Conference USA team.

After transferring to Alabama for the 2023 campaign, Key again had 60 tackles and one interception, and he completed a 10-player Crimson Tide draft class in 2024.

“You kind of got to focus on a lot of the little things,” Key said about his climb, “and that’s kind of what I started focusing on. You got to grind it out. It’s some tough days in there, some tough months in there. But in the end, if you keep working, you’ll prevail, so for me that’s what it was – to keep working, keep working, and you end up on top.”

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Key and his New York teammates have completed their offseason program. The Jets’ other rookies are scheduled to report to training camp on July 18 at the Atlantic Health Jets Training Center in Florham Park, New Jersey.

“It’s pretty crazy to see Aaron Rodgers out there with you,” Key said of his offseason work. “You’re practicing against him, he’s on the other side throwing the rock. It’s pretty crazy because you grew up playing with him in ‘Madden.’ He’s a great player, he’s generational, and it’s pretty crazy that he’s the quarterback of the team I’m playing with. It was pretty surreal for me to get out there and practice with him and be able to go out and work with him every day.”

New York has three experienced safeties on its roster. Tony Adams started 15 games in 2023 for the Jets. A free-agent signee after starting four seasons for the Baltimore Ravens, Chuck Clark missed the 2023 campaign because he tore an anterior cruciate ligament during the offseason program last year. Ashtyn Davis has started 21 games in his four seasons with New York.

Irrelevant Week hasn’t been all about Key: Funds raised by the event benefit the Children’s Hospital of Orange County and the Orange County Youth Sports Foundation.

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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.