Drew Pearson says Roger Goodell encouraged him to rile up Eagles fans

Drew Pearson had planned to express his Dallas Cowboys pride when he announced the team's second-round draft pick Friday, but he was wary of riling up the Philadelphia crowd by making a dig at the Eagles.

That was until commissioner Roger Goodell told him it was a great idea, the Cowboys Ring of Honor wide receiver said Monday.

Discussing his moment at the NFL draft that quickly went viral, Pearson said he ran the idea of opening with "I want to thank the Eagle fans for allowing me to have a career in the NFL" by the commissioner backstage first.

"... That's something I had mentioned backstage to the commissioner, in a jokingly type manner, that I should say that," he said on SportsCenter. "Then he agreed with me. He encouraged me to say that to rile them up even more, and I said, 'Really, OK. I'll do it.'

"And so I did it and it certainly riled them up even more and as I said that, or after I said that, the crowd got even louder and therefore I started yelling, and in my presentation even louder, hoping that everybody could hear me. And of course, they heard me over those boos and cheers and all that stuff that was going on at the museum. It was awesome."

As Pearson walked away from the stage, he proudly showed off a Super Bowl ring to the Eagles fans, who are still waiting for their team to win a Super Bowl.

"There were a lot of Cowboys fans in the audience, but the Eagles fans drowned them out," Pearson told ESPN's Todd Archer. "All those boos took me back to when I played at the Vet. It fired me up. Lucky Herm Edwards wasn't there. I wanted to run some routes on him."

Pearson said Goodell congratulated him after he left the stage.

"The commissioner really liked it, he enjoyed it as well. He congratulated me," he said. "The last thing he said as he shook my hand and went off to do what he had to do after that, he said, 'If you need me for anything, give me a call.'"

He said he also was cheered by the other former players who were preparing to announce their former teams' picks.

"When all those guys started congratulating me, even Franco Harris congratulated me -- a Pittsburgh Steeler ..."

Pearson said he was surrounded by security guards as soon as he left the podium and up until he entered his hotel room.

He told NBC Sports Radio's "Pro Football Talk Live" that the Eagles fans that greeted him at his hotel "were quite upset."

"No one did anything crazy, but I do appreciate the security protection that they afforded me after that," he said.

Edwards was asked about Pearson on Mike and Mike.

"Love Drew. Played against Drew. Fabulous receiver, but sometimes, like defensive backs, receivers have selective memory," he said. "And as he got the crowd all excited, how he made his career, I would make sure he remembers this, in the championship game, in which Drew Pearson played the Philadelphia Eagles, and I happened to be on that football team, the score was 20-7, Drew, and you had two receptions for 15 yards, so let's don't think that every time you came to Philadelphia you were catching touchdowns, because that did not happen."