Cause For Concern? This Draft Prospect Is Into Trains. Really Into Trains.

No. 9-ranked Oregon cornerback Todd McCrady has garnered much attention from scouts and team psychologists alike thanks to his near-perfect draft grades — as well as his super vocal admiration for locomotives, both past and present.

Sources say NFL teams have been waffling between being excited and unsettled by the prospect as a result. 

“He once broke up ten passes in three games. He’s a near pre-draft gold standard for his position. Unfortunately, we hear he is a real train-head. Like really, really into them,” longtime NFL scout Dave Sears told reporters. “And that makes us a little…uneasy.”

Coaches and teammates were quick to point out that McCrady was not on the spectrum, but simply had a wholesome — though often annoying — quirk. 

“Some dudes are into music. Todd is into trains. Steam engines, diesel freights, passenger rails. The full gambit,” said teammate Shawn Ramirez. “He even lives in a refurbished boxcar. And he had his 21st birthday at the railway museum. It’s just his thing. Though, once we tried to bring up airplanes with him and he got quiet.”

McCrady has gone to zero lengths to hide his unconventional pastime. Coaches confirm he takes trains instead of buses to team games, insists on watching “Murder On The Orient Express” during film review, and demands to be called “Mr. Transcontinental.” When he is not wearing a helmet, he is donning a conductor’s hat and tooting a train whistle.

McCrady, for his part, doesn’t see his train passion as an issue. “As long as I can recover fumbles and hustle across the field like a 1938 Zephyr Express, who cares?” McCrady told reporters from his dedicated booth at Two Toots Café, where model trains bring food to your table. “As long as I shovel enough coal in my engine to railroad any defense, the team that drafts me will be aboard the gravy train for sure!”