Mission Prep grad adds another highlight to his football career: First NFL touchdown
Each step of his stellar football career, Mission Prep graduate Patrick Laird has exceeded expectations — and he accomplished yet another milestone Sunday.
The rookie running back for the Miami Dolphins scored his first touchdown in the National Football League on Sunday, followed by a 2-point conversion catch.
Laird, 24, a 6-foot, 205-pound running back, who graduated from Cal Berkeley last year, barreled through two Philadelphia Eagles with the help of strong blocking from fullback Chandler Cox and his offensive line.
The 4-yard score, along with Laird’s follow-up catch on the 2-point conversion, gave the Dolphins a 34-28 lead with 11:06 remaining in the fourth quarter.
The Dolphins won the home game 37-31.
Laird celebrated his first touchdown with his signature gesture that mimics reading a book — the same salute he used in college to encourage reading. Laird started the Summer Reading Challenge for kids while at UC Berkeley.
“It felt great to get in the end zone, especially with a win,” Laird told The Tribune in an email Monday. “Our team is close and we’ve stuck together.”
Laird helps Dolphins rebound
The Dolphins have surprised many NFL commentators with their resilience after losing their first seven games. They have won three of their last five games since to improve to 3-9.
Like in college, Laird had to wait for his opportunity for any significant playing time at the running back position in the NFL.
Laird got his first professional carries and receptions on Nov. 10 in a 16-10 win over the Indianapolis Colts, tallying two carries for 4 yards and two catches for 15.
Since then, Laird has rushed 13 times for 36 yards and caught 12 passes for 109 yards in all.
In Sunday’s win, Laird rushed for 5 yards total on 10 carries, including the touchdown. He caught four of five passes targeting him for a total of 43 yards, with a long of 19.
“We’ve continued to practice hard, so it was nice to see the work pay off with a win,” Laird told The Tribune.
Moving up the depth chart
Laird, a walk-on at Cal, notably didn’t get much playing time at running back for the Golden Bears until his redshirt junior season.
Then he exploded, rushing for 1,127 yards in 2017 and 961 yards in 2018.
Laird was bumped up to a more active role in the Dolphins lineup after two players higher on the depth chart vacated those slots.
Kenyan Drake was traded to the Arizona Cardinals on Oct. 28, and Mark Walton was suspended in early November for four games for violating the NFL conduct and substance abuse policy.
Laird, who was born in San Luis Obispo and lived in Arroyo Grande during high school, has been nicknamed “The Intern” by his coach, Brian Flores.
The moniker came after Laird was mistaken for one while he was sharing a meal with some of the Dolphins’ interns at the team’s training facility.
According to the Miami Herald, after chatting with the group about their interests, one of the interns asked Laird: “So, what do you do here?”
“The rookies every once in a while have to get up and tell stories in front of the team,” Laird reportedly said. “I told that story. Everyone laughed, and they’ve pretty much called me ‘The Intern’ ever since.”
After his momentous first touchdown, Laird told the Palm Beach Post: “What I learned at Cal, and it’s getting cliche, but stick to your process. Stick to your routine. And so when you do get an opportunity, you’re ready to go.”
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