New Trailer Alert: MR. IRRELEVANT |

October 7, 2026 • 0 Comments

New Trailer Alert: Mr. Irrelevant

This is a sports film, a genre that I don’t usually post about here at Life After Gateway. However, there is something about this trailer that just seems special and I wanted to showcase the film today.

The Background

In case you are not a football fan, the term “Mr. Irrelevant” is the moniker assigned to the very last person selected in the NFL Draft each April. This person, statistically speaking, has miniscule odds of actually making a team’s final roster. A quick Google search tells me that Paul Salata, a former professional football player (Baltimore Colts) started this tradition, and Kelvin Kirk was the first person to achieve the honour in the 1976 draft. The person selected last is involved in a celebration including a golf tournament in Newport Beach, California. They receive a trophy, called the “Lowsman,” displaying a player fumbling a football, a fun riff on the Heisman Trophy. The week’s activities occur during “Irrelevant Week.”

The “Lowsman” and the Heisman Trophies

Most recipients of the Lowsman are cut before the team’s final roster is set, just before the NFL season begins. Not all are cut, however — one of the more famous examples is Brock Purdy, the current quarterback of the San Francisco 49ers.

Mr. Irrelevant Movie Details

In this case, it is the true story of John Tuggle, selected last in the 1983 draft by the New York Giants. Tuggle not only made the roster, but he had an enormous impact on his teammates and coach.

Studio: Paramount
Director: Jonathan Levine
Writer: Nick Santora
Cast: David Corenswet (Superman 2025), Isabel May (Scream 7), Michael Shannon (The Shape of Water)
Release Date: 25 December 2026

The story, as per IMDB:

The heartfelt story of the inspiring, enduring impact John Tuggle had on his team and teammates after being drafted by the New York Giants.

Here is the inspirational trailer. You might catch some elements of “Irrelevant Week,” like the parade. Will you watch this in theatres this Christmas, when it competes with Werwulf? Tell me in the comments below.

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A Blanket of Steel by Timothy S. Johnston and from Fitzhenry & Whiteside, LTD. is the recipient of the 2024 GLOBAL Thriller Award GRAND PRIZE and the 2024 CYGNUS Award First in Category.

— Timothy S. Johnston, 15 September 2026

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Praise for Timothy S. Johnston’s A Blanket of Steel

“Fans of Clive Cussler’s NUMA Files will be delighted with Timothy S. Johnston’s undersea novels. Truman McClusky and Dirk Pitt are cut from the same adventurer’s cloth.” — Nick Cutter, author of The Deep and The Troop

“Action that ranges from close range combat to torpedo-fueled attacks. The result is a thriller that keeps moving from confrontation to confrontation … with constant danger and the vast depths of the ocean as a setting, there is always reason to keep reading.” — Kirkus Reviews

“Read the book and prepare to be blown away by one of the best writers I have ever had the pleasure to read. Timothy S. Johnston is simply amazing.” — FIVE Stars from Readers’ Favorite

“A Blanket of Steel is not simply a ‘daring do’ thriller … It’s prescient.” — Amazing Stories

“A priority selection. An action-packed story that is hard to put down. A Blanket of Steel is outstanding.” — D. Donovan, Sr. Reviewer, Midwest Book Review

“Innovative technology, Mac taking risks no one else would dare and thinking his way through to brilliant solutions … But the stakes are higher than they’ve ever been before. This is it. The countdown to the final battle … Johnston does an excellent job of keeping the tension taut as he plays with the reader’s perceptions of characters we thought we knew and trusted …” — SFcrowsnest

“Expect to be left breathless. Trust me here. Please. I COULD NOT PUT IT DOWN.” — Michael Libling, author of The Serial Killer’s Son Takes A Wife and Hollywood North: A Novel in Six Reels

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A BLANKET OF STEEL is out now!

WATCH THE GRIPPING BOOK TRAILER HERE.

FOR PURCHASE OPTIONS CLICK HERE

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A Blanket of Steel from Timothy S. Johnston and Fitzhenry & Whiteside, Ltd.

Book Cover & Jacket Copy:

AN UNSTOPPABLE THREAT!

A mysterious assassin has murdered Cliff Sim, Chief Security Officer of the underwater colony, Trieste. Cliff was a mountain of a man, highly trained, and impossible to defeat in combat. And yet …

Someone brutally beat him and left his broken body in a secret Chinese facility at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean.

And included a calling card for Truman McClusky, Mayor of Trieste.

Taunting him.

Mac has led the underwater colonies in their fight against the world’s superpowers. Climate change has devastated the surface; nations suffer famine, drought, rebellion, rising waters, and apocalyptic coastal flooding. But now, as Mac leads the underwater colonies to freedom and independence, he’s faced with the gravest threat of his life: a Russian assassin, hellbent on killing Mac and everyone he cares for. Now Mac must uncover the identity of the killer, face him in combat, and at the same time lead people in battle against the largest underwater force ever assembled. It’s Mac’s final test, and to win the war, he must use every tool at his disposal, including the most surprising and devastating underwater weapons ever invented.

If Mac fails, all hope is lost for the future of human colonization on the ocean floors.

But the assassin could be anyone …

Watch your back, Mac.

A Blanket of Steel is the most gripping thriller yet in The Rise of Oceania.

FOR PURCHASE OPTIONS CLICK HERE

The other books in The Rise of Oceania series by Timothy S Johnston:

The War Beneath 9781771484718
The Savage Deeps 9781771485067
Fatal Depth 9781554555574
An Island of Light 9781554555819
The Shadow of War 9781554556007