It’s not often a former seventh-round pick signs a one-day contract to retire.
That’s the honor Isaac Rochell got this weekend, though, with the Los Angeles Chargers.
“This organization absolutely changed my life,” Rochell told Chargers.com. “Obviously, I’m retired and I’m not playing anymore, but when I look back at my career and I look back at the good years and the bad years, the good years were here. They were also the team that gave me a chance. I was a seventh-round draft pick so it’s not like people were knocking at the door left and right. When [former Chargers General Manager] Tom Telesco called me, that was a life changing moment for me and for my family,” Rochell added. “So, it’s like, ‘Why not? Why not the Chargers?’ It’s such a no brainer for me.”
The Chargers took Rochell in the 2017 seventh round out of Notre Dame. He had 9.5 sacks for the Chargers.
In 2018, Rochell put up a career-high 5.0 sacks. He had a clutch half-sack with Melvin Ingram on Patrick Mahomes in a 29-28 win over the Chiefs that season.
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After four seasons with the Chargers, Rochell went on to play for the Colts, Browns and Raiders. He didn’t have another sack after leaving the Chargers.
“I look back at it now and I’m like, ‘I did it.’ I mean, seventh rounders don’t usually make it super far,” Rochell said. “I was just in it and grinding but it feels good to look back and be like, ‘Dang, that just happened.’ It’s a true definition of head down grinding and making something happen. As a seventh rounder to play seven years, I had a chip on my shoulder because of that and I’m proud of it.”
Rochell is now in media, working for SiriusXM, and definitely turned his late-round draft pick into quite the football journey.
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