Jacob Lacey's pick-six against the Rams last week introduced him to a national audience (ok, a Midwestern audience, but still) who didn't know about the undrafted free agent who is now playing key snaps on one of the best teams in the NFL. Watching late-round draft picks like and undrafted players turn into productive players is a great thing, especially when they hit the ground running, like Jacob Lacey.
As Colts fans, we're no strangers to seeing late draft picks and undrafted players play become big time contributors, thanks to the scouting prowess of Bill Polian. Over the years, he's found several needles in the haystack. Here's a refresher if you haven't been paying attention to the current roster:
- Antoine Bethea - Pick #207
- Gary Brackett - Undrafted
- Melvin Bullitt - Undrafted
- Eric Foster - Undrafted
- Pierre Garçon - Pick #205
- Antonio Johnson - Undrafted Taken in the 5th round by Tennessee, d'oh!
- Robert Mathis - Pick #138
- Pat McAfee (YEAH THAT'S RIGHT, HE'S A STUD ALREADY) - Pick #222
- And while Bill Polian didn't draft them, Jeff Saturday, Raheem Brock, and Dan Muir never played a snap with the team that selected them before being released. Also, let's not forget the Colts who are no longer with the team that have productive years in Indy, such as Dominic Rhodes.
While the high draft picks are always going to be the ones who play the biggest role in delivering a championship, save for that pesky Tom Brady fella, players drafted in the late rounds who pitch in other areas are vital to putting a team over the top. With that in mind, we'll take a look at Bill Polian's latest find after the jump.
- Jacob Lacey went to college at Oklahoma State, so we already know that his coach was a man, and he was 40 years old. He still needs 14 more interceptions if he wants to claim the record for most NFL interceptions by an Oklahoma State Cowboy. The current record is held by R.W. McQuarters.
- Lacey was born in Columbus, Ohio but he grew up in Garland, Texas. Garland is the hometown of Leann Rimes, former NBA player Mookie Blaylock, and Mike Judge, whose experiences in the town helped him create the fictional town of Arlen, Texas.
- He went to high school with someone you might know...Melvin Bullitt.
- After making it through cut day this preseason, he told reporters that "I just tried to stay by my phone, but at the same time not stay by it," kind of like how I tried not to say anything about that statement, but did anyway.
- This isn't his first odd interaction with reporters. After getting fined for his touchdown slide, he told Mike Chappell it was worth it, but he told Oesher that if he had known ahead of time that he was going to be fined that he "probably wouldn't have done it." If you can make sense of that, I applaud you.