It would probably surprise many Detroit Lions fans to know that veteran defensive tackle Pat O’Connor was a seventh-round draft pick by the Detroit Lions in 2017.
Though he had a decent preseason as a rookie out of Eastern Michigan, he was waived and brought back to the practice squad, only to be released again a few days later. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers picked up O’Connor soon after and he ended up spending the first seven years of his career there.
There’s a different regime running things in Detroit since the time when he was drafted, but O’Connor still eagerly chose to return to the team that drafted him for the 2024 preseason.