Skid Row came out with “18 and Life” back in 1989, but for a bunch of college kids — some born in ’89, actually — it will be 21, 22 and the rest of their lives come April 28th.

As the Path to Primetime rolls on, the NFL draft is just 18 days away. So besides late ’80s hair bands, what else does 18 remind us of?

• Peyton. Hard to believe it was 13 years ago that the NFL’s most famous No. 18, Peyton Manning, was drafted first overall by the Colts.

• Last year’s 18th overall pick was damn good. Maurkice Pouncey played like a rookie of the year, but, alas, he’s a center. Those guys don’t win the hardware.

• Joe Flacco was also picked 18th overall in 2008. The 6-foot-5 quarterback out of Delaware has the second-highest winning percentage (.667) of all quarterbacks drafted in the last five years.

• The 18th overall pick has produced a lot of bad players in the last 25 years. That said, five Hall of Famers were once the 18th overall pick: Tuffy Leemans (1936), Bruiser Kinard (1938), John Henry Johnson (1953), Paul Krause (1964), and Art Monk (1980).

So, who will be drafted 18th this year? Just 18 days until we see what Norv Turner and the Chargers will do.

– Elliot Harrison

Elliot Harrison, a research analyst for “NFL RedZone” on NFL Network, counts down the days until the start of the 2011 NFL Draft.

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