NFL dream a reality for Windsor’s Pinnock
WINDSOR LOCKS — Jason Pinnock bounced around the room for hours, hugging friends and family, posing for pictures, checking his phone. And waiting.
“Waiting,” he said. “We were waiting, we were waiting, we were waiting. Then that phone rings, and it was surreal, man. I almost dropped. My Pops had to hold me up, my brother had to hold me up. It’s surreal. It’s a blessing.”
Pinnock, 21, has been working and waiting a lifetime for this moment, and safe to say it met his wildest dreams and kept on going. Not only was he chosen in the NFL Draft, but by the team he’s rooted for all along, the Jets, to play the position his idol, Darrelle Revis, once played.
“That’s what I’m saying,’ ” Pinnock said. “Life’s crazy. Full circle.”
Pinnock followed Revis, a seven-time Pro Bowler, at Pittsburgh, and now to the Jets, where Revis played from 2007-12 and 2015-16. They’ve spoken a few times.
Pinnock starred at Windsor High before landing at Pitt. At 6 feet 1 and 205, he can be a big cornerback in the NFL, with the speed and athletic ability to blanket receivers, as he did effectively in college.
Tyler Coyle, Pinnock’s teammate at Windsor High, who played in the secondary at UConn and Purdue, signed immediately after the draft with the Cowboys.
The Ravens took Newtown’s Ben Mason, a fullback who played at Michigan, later in the fifth round. Other players from Connecticut, including wide receivers Tarik Black, from Hamden, who played at Texas and Michigan, and Keyion Dixon, from Glastonbury who played at UConn and Eastern Kentucky, were expected to sign as undrafted free agents in the coming days.
Pinnock gathered more than 50 family and friends to Spare Time in Windsor Locks to watch The Draft, sharing the moment with his hometown, which has sent Chris Baker, Terrance Knighton and Damik Scafe to the NFL a decade ago.
From a family steeped in football — his father, Louis, played at Indiana — Pinnock aspired to play from an early age. His mother took out old photos after Jason was picked.
“Overwhelmed with joy, relief, just ... proud,” she said. “He’s worked so hard for this moment, for him to actually be here, it means everything to me. It’s not about football, it’s about your child being able to fulfill a dream he’s had since he was like 3 years old.”
Louis Pinnock said, “I’m just ready for him to get in there and show what he can do. He’s always had a passion for the game; he’s always wanted to play the game. He knew I played, and he just had a desire and a drive, and he never got tired of it, never wanted to not play.”
After the long celebration died down, Pinnock walked to the bowling lanes to do several ZOOM interviews. As he spoke to the Jets reporters, his brother, Louis, sprayed him with a bottle of champagne. It was that kind of day.
“It means the world,” Jason said, “all these boys. Shout out to all these boys, my boys from [knee] high. All of them played a role in where I am today. They don’t get that acknowledgement because I’m the one in front of the camera, but they’re the ones that made me.”
He showed his left arm, with the W-I-N-D-S-O-R tattooed from elbow to wrist.
“It’s on me forever,” he said. “The Town of Windsor, the City of Hartford, it’s who I am.”
The Jets, who finished 2-14, are rebuilding under new coach Robert Saleh. They took BYU quarterback Zach Wilson with the No. 2 pick in the draft, the first of 10 players they selected with stock-piled picks. They took five defensive backs on Saturday, Jemien Sherwood of Auburn, Michael Carter II of Duke, Pinnock, Hamsah Nasirildeen of Florida State and Brandin Echels of Kentucky.
During the fourth round, Pinnock began getting messages that the Jets were on him. In the middle of the fifth, they traded down from pick No. 162 to get extra picks from the Chiefs, and took Pinnock at No. 175. In 2019, Pinnock held opponents to a 37 percent completion rate to receivers he covered, one of the lowest rates in the nation.
“If you look at his career, analytically,” Saleh told reporters, “his production is off the charts.”
Mason, 6-3 and 254, a fullback/tight end hybrid, and even played some defense for Jim Harbaugh at Michigan and will now play for his brother, John, in Baltimore. He twice was named Michigan’s “Toughest Player. ”The Ravens took him with pick No. 184.
“I’m a player who is very versatile,” Mason told Baltimore reporters. “That’s something you need as a fullback, you have to play a little bit in the I (formation), the hip, a little tight end . ... My mental process is, I’m going to be the baddest due on the field at all times. I’m going to play like that and think like that.”