Guarding the Pack

Guarding the Pack

Rancho Santa Fe native Jacob Alsadek joins the NFL

Posted on May 29, 2018

The Green Bay Packers are one of the most legendary franchises in the National Football League and all of professional sports. Dating back to the pre-Super Bowl days, the Packers are 13-time world champions and play their home games at the iconic Lambeau field, which celebrates its 100th birthday this upcoming season. Now, Jacob Alsadek, a 23-year-old offensive lineman and native of Rancho Santa Fe, will join the ranks of the legendary club. On April 28, he signed as an undrafted free agent with Green Bay.

“It’s pretty surreal,” Alsadek says. “I watched my first Super Bowl in 2001 or 2002 with my mom and my brother and I remember telling myself ‘this is the coolest thing I’ve ever seen in my life and I want to be a part of something like this.’ It still hasn’t hit me that I’m in the NFL.” Alsadek stands at a towering six-feet, seven-inches and weighs 317 pounds, and fittingly, plays primarily guard and tackle on the offensive line. During his college years at the University of Arizona, Alsadek found a home at right guard, creating gaps for his running backs in a zone-heavy, read-option offense. He went on to start 48 games at the Division I program, play in a BCS bowl game, rack up an All-Pac-12 honorable mention, and was awarded the Athlon Sports First-Team All-Pac-12.

Even with all of his accolades, Alsadek was nervous come draft day as predictions placed him to likely be taken in the sixth or seventh round, but he failed to hear word from any NFL team at the conclusion of the draft. A call from Wisconsin and a text from his agent provided Alsadek a huge sigh of relief. He now begins the tough uphill battle to find playing time with the Packers. “I’m not coming in [from] a good spot like I was after high school,” he says candidly. “I wasn’t the top recruit or the best kid. I wasn’t drafted. I was signed as a priority free-agent at the bottom of the totem pole. But that’s exactly where I want to be because now I know that I’ve got to work and that pushes me harder to beat those kids out who did get drafted.”

Alsadek recently finished rookie minicamp in Green Bay, Wisconsin, and he is already full of positive energy. “I’m so excited to walk across that field on game day and be a part of something that I’ve always wanted. I’m honestly living my dream right now, and to be able to say that is pretty special. I just don’t want to take any of it for granted,” he says. 

Before Alsadek returns to training camp in late July, he plans to relax and “get down to 310 to 313 [pounds],” in order to be leaner and quicker for the upcoming season. 

Meanwhile, the recently teamless San Diego now has someone to cheer for, finding comfort in knowing that one of its own has found a way to nestle himself into the NFL.   Jacob Aere