Life as a college student-athlete is challenging enough. Throw on the responsibility of being an Air Force cadet and the difficulty is ratcheted up magnitudes higher.
Only 12 players who graduated from the Air Force Academy have ever played a game in the NFL (not including several players who transferred out during their college careers). Los Angeles Rams undrafted free agent signee Payton Zdroik is trying to become the 13th.
To reach this level, even just making it to camp with an NFL team, football
almost certainly has been your life for most of the time you’ve been alive. For Zdroik, who was a four-year starter in Colorado Springs for coach Troy Calhoun and the Falcons, the Air Force Academy has also been his entire life. The son of two Air Force graduates, Zdroik’s father Daniel and mother Kelly were both Falcons athletes as well, his dad playing halfback on the gridiron while his mom was a swimmer (sister Kaitlynn was a collegiate volleyball player, though she plied her craft at San Jose State).
Even before his college career, for which he chose Air Force over one other FBS offer and four from the FCS ranks, he was familiar with representing the Air Force in football, having played for the Air Force Prep Academy.
That alone makes for a nice, feel-good story, but one that Rams fans could probably shrug off and forget moments after the initial signing. Zdroik’s more than a fun family tale, though; he’s also a sawed-off weapon on the interior.
That hyphenated adjective is important: Zdroik is small for a defensive tackle. Officially listed at 6-foot by the Rams’ website, his height at his pro day was measured at 5117. The most impactful defensive lineman in the NFL standing under six feet tall today is the Rams’ own Poona Ford (not that there are many players to pick from in that category). Plus, out of 249 defensive tackle prospects in Dane Brugler’s The Beast, his preposterously detailed draft guide at The Athletic, only 15 players weighed in lighter this year than Zdroik (or 6% of the class).
And yet, despite being one of the smallest starters on the defensive line in major college football, Zdroik was extremely productive for the Falcons in his career. He’s eighth in program history with 14 sacks, tacking on 29 tackles for loss in his career as well and earning second-team All-Mountain West honors as a senior.
And as far as athletic testing goes, you can’t ask for much more than what Zdroik did at his pro day, posting a 9.26 RAS score despite “very poor” marks for his size.
If nothing else, when it comes to testing numbers, it’s encouraging to see a player who actually went through agility testing in an era that sees fewer and fewer draft-hopeful prospects doing so.
Herein lies the plight of the undrafted free agent, though. Despite a productive college career and generally stellar athletic testing, Zdroik has a logjam in front of him on the Los Angeles roster, which already features the aforementioned Ford as the super-undersized nose tackle, not to mention seventh-round pick Tim Keenan out of Alabama. Even if the skill sets don’t overlap to a T, there’s a lot of competition in that room with very little wiggle room for a new name to crack through. That’s especially true if you’re not bringing something truly unique to the table.
Still, if you’re looking for an undrafted free agent story to cling to this year, Payton Zdroik brings in all the feel-good elements you’re looking for. Service academy prospect, great familial lineage, undersized, it’s all the makings of the classic American underdog story.
And if there’s any franchise in the NFL that can get creative and find a way to maximize a player’s size and traits, it’s the Rams.
