Falcon Draft Pick Kerry Meier Carries on Brother Dylan's Memory

The Atlanta Falcons didn't know it, but they drafted two players with one pick on Saturday. Kerry Meier will bring his brother with him to the NFL.
Not literally. Dylan Meier was buried Monday, two days after Kerry was taken in the fifth round.
Barely a week had passed since Dylan fell to his death on a hiking trip. The last person to see him before he slipped off the rock was Kerry.
"It's so hard to grasp right now," he said. "It's a surreal experience and something I still don't really feel it happened."
Most of Kansas feels the same way. At least the part that knows football and the Meiers.
They've been called the First Family of Kansas football. Dennis and Valerie Meier produced four boys any coach would love to call his own.
Now the third one, the one who traveled the world looking for new friends and adventure, is being laid to rest in a small Kansas town.
"There isn't a church or any place big enough to accommodate the crowd," Merle Clark said.
He was Dylan's high school coach and gave one of the eulogies Monday. The service was held at Pittsburg Memorial Auditorium, which seats 1,600 people. It's the biggest indoor venue around Pittsburg, Kansas.
As always, mourners tried to make sense of the death. How could a guy who dodged Big 12 conference linebackers, who ran with the bulls in Pamplona, who skydived in the Alps ...
How could he slip off a rock where hikers stop and stare all the time?
Then there is the why. Why did it happen to a 26-year-old who loved life so much?
"He was bright, handsome and athletic. He had it all," Clark said. "He was just out in the country, living life, seeing the beauty of the world. In a sad, ironic way it's fitting."
Dylan MeierDylan (pictured right) was Clark's first quarterback after he became head coach at Pittsburg High. The Meier legacy had already been established. The oldest brother, Shad, played tight end at Kansas State and then six years in the NFL.
Adam was a safety at hometown Pittsburg State, the only university in America with a gorilla for a mascot. Clark said Dylan was the hardest worker of them all.
He'd cajole teammates into staying after practice to catch passes. When that didn't work, he'd stay by himself and throw at the tires by the field.
Dylan suffered a concussion in the state championship game, but he came off the bench and almost led Pittsburg to the win. He fought back from shoulder surgery. He was the team captain as a junior and senior. He was voted the Most Inspirational Player.
You get the idea.
"He was the epitome of what you'd want in a young man," Clark said.
Dylan followed Shad to Kansas State. He became the starting quarterback but reinjured his throwing shoulder. He returned, eventually losing his job to Josh Freeman.
Freeman was a hotshot who would become the No. 1 pick of the Tampa Bay Bucs. Dylan graciously accepted his fate. As good as he was, he knew the NFL was one trip he wouldn't make.
He did the next best thing. He went to NFL Europe for three years. The football was fun, but small-town boy relished places like Barcelona, Frankfurt and London.
"I need to be out enjoying life," he told Clark.
The football portion ended when he hurt his shoulder a third time. The next thing anyone knew, Dylan was in New Zealand. He worked in vineyards for room and board.
"He just did it for the experience," Clark said. "The opportunity to live life."
With his long blond hair, blue eyes and insatiable curiosity, he had no problem making friends. But wherever he went, Dylan always kept up with his younger brother.
Kerry was a lot like Dylan. A good athlete, Kerry Meierthough not a superstar. He played quarterback at Pittsburg High. But Kerry didn't want to be known as the "Little Meier."
He went to Kansas instead of Kansas State. What was sacrilegious to fans was all right by Dylan.
"You couldn't ask for a better guy," Kerry said. "He was very protective of me and looked out for me in every way possible."
Dylan's quarterback dreams were done in by shoulder problems. Kerry's started to wane after doctors at Kansas discovered he had a serious heart condition. He sat out a year after undergoing surgery.
He started eight games as a sophomore, but eventually lost his job. Being a Meier, he turned himself into an all-conference wide receiver. Kerry set a school record with 97 catches last year. All of which had the entire Meier family anticipating the past weekend.
Dylan was home before his next excursion. He had signed up to teach English for a year in Seoul, South Korea. Never mind that he didn't speak a word of Korean. Dylan knew he'd get by.
Everybody except Shad decided to take a quick vacation to the Ozark National Forest in Arkansas. They stopped on a remote trail, a mile from the nearest road. Dylan climbed a rock to get a better view of the gorge and countryside below.
Dylan sat there taking it all in. It wasn't wet. The sandstone rock didn't crumble. He just stood up and lost his footing.
Kerry and Adam were close by, but they weren't close enough to grab him. Dylan fell 94 feet.
A nature photographer who lives in the park was the first to find him. Tim Ernst said Dylan was lying on his side, almost as if he'd fallen asleep.
"The entire scene, it was peaceful, tranquil," he wrote on his blog. "It was almost the kind of scene you felt, well, you really felt you were disturbing the world by being there. Very quiet. Very still. No sound, no wind. Which is really rare out there."
The brothers eventually made it down the gorge and identified Dylan. The last thing Kerry had on his mind was the NFL Draft.
"He pushed me through a lot of tough times growing up," Kerry said. "And he's always been right there for me, carrying me along."
When the phone rang Saturday, he knew it would be his turn to carry Dylan.
"I just want to continue my career in honor of him," Kerry said.
It sounds like a coping mechanism, and maybe that's all it is. Fifth-round picks are no sure bets. When analysts grade the draft, they don't give bonus points for heartache.
But what a person believes, a person believes. Kerry will show up in Atlanta believing he has a higher purpose.
For all the living he packed into his short life, Dylan never had an NFL adventure. Now his little brother wants to give him one.