Everyone loves an underdog story. The person who is unassuming that reaches heights few believed they could. For the rebuilding Detroit Lions undrafted rookie cornerback Jerry Jacobs is that underdog. Season ending injuries to Jeff Okudah and 2021 third-round draft pick Ifeatu Melifonwu, left the Lions with little choice but to insert Jacobs into the starting lineup. Jerry Jacobs has taken full advantage of the opportunity.
Entering Sundays tilt against the Los Angeles Rams, Jerry Jacobs will be starting his third game for the Detroit Lions. Head coach Dan Campbell went on record as saying that Jacobs has grown a lot since he walked through the Lions doors on a try out.
Jerry Jacobs plays with a tenacity. To pinpoint where that tenacity comes from it could be safe to say that Jacobs feels the need to prove himself everyday. Be it practice or game day. This is what being an underdog can do, it can bring the absolute best out of a person.
What has been fun to watch, is the times that he has been beaten, Jacobs bounces back. He is still learning, still applying what he is learning and it shows in his steady play.
Once a player “makes it” it is easy to forget how they got there. For an underdog, they generally never forget. They do not forget teams that passed on them in the draft or in free agency or a try out. The work they put in. The belief they have in themselves when it seems no one else does. Tom Brady is a prime example, of an underdog that reached heights few thought he would, but Brady is a high bar for underdogs.
In the pass-happy NFL, Jerry Jacobs game is centered around physicality that he uses to his advantage. In a rebuild, teams need a player like Jacobs to come along. They need to find a player that turns heads and grows. Jerry Jacobs has turned heads and has shown he fits into the Lions future.
