It began as a light-hearted bet.
Hampstead native and Central Catholic alum Jordan Daly had finished dead last in his friends’ fantasy football league. The punishment?
The 26-year-old, who had not played football since middle school, had to go to a tryout for the Granite State Destroyers semi-pro football team.
He ended up making the team.
“I went into the practice and thought, how can I get through this and not get hurt?” he said.
“I picked kicker, even though I had never kicked, because it felt safe. Then I drilled one of the linemen in the back of the head with a kick, and I didn’t think I would come back from that,” he recalled. “But during the practice I could see the brotherhood. I could see it was something special, something I missed in my adult life.”
Fast forward two years, and Daly has established himself as one of the premier kickers in the New England Football League, helping the the East Coast Cardinals earn the league title and an invitational to Nationals in the spring and now helping the Granite State Destroyers to a 5-2 record heading into their regular season finale, with the No. 3 seed in the playoffs already locked up.
He hasn’t missed a PAT in the spring or summer, and went 7 for 7 in the Destroyers’ last game, a 49-14 win over the Vermont Ravens.
“I might have the weirdest journey to playing football of anyone,” said Daly, now 29-years-old, with a laugh. “But football has given me purpose. I just fell in love. Once you’re out of high school, or maybe college, you lose that team sports aspect of your life, everyone working together for one cause. I could see right away what this meant to them. This isn’t rec league. This is special.”
Unlikely football return
Daly’s initial Destroyers practice was his first time in football pads since Pop Warner. At Central Catholic, he played volleyball — becoming a captain as a senior in 2015 — and soccer as a goalie.
“In Pop Warner I was a linebacker and fullback,” he said. “I never considered kicking. I got burned out and switched to soccer, but even then as a goalie I didn’t do my own goal kicks. I ended up getting cut in soccer as a senior, so I asked Coach A (Central Hall of Fame football coach Chuck Adamopoulos) if he needed a kicker or punter. But he was had someone in that spot.”
After graduating from Central, Daly moved on to Southern New Hampshire University, where he studied sports management, then began a career in social media, both in sports and in banking.
Then came the 2023 fantasy football season, which ended with Daly finishing last.
“Originally the loser was going to film a combine-type video and send it to Division 3 colleges, but none of us could do it,” he remembered. “So we found out when the local semi-pro team was practicing and decided to go with that.”
Becoming a star
The Destroyers, it turned out, were looking for a kicker, and decided to give Daly a shot.
“In our first game they called me out to kick a PAT and I was shaking,” he said. “I had hit maybe one in practice — I was bad — but I went out and hit that one. Everyone celebrated and it made me feel so good. I was really up-and-down, but I ended up making about 70 percent of my kicks that year and my confidence started to grow.”
Daly improved to nearly 90 percent on PATs last summer, and this year he has been perfect, both with the Destroyers and in the spring with the Cardinals where he was 20 for 20 on PATs.
“I’m a petty guy and I love proving people wrong,” he said with a laugh. “Going into it, this was a joke. But once I realized I could be good, I started really working at it. studying videos on YouTube. I remember going out for kicks and hearing people on the sidelines saying I couldn’t make the kick. Last year there was a game-tying field goal and people in the stands were asking why they were sending me out. And I made it. I also probably lead the league in onside kicks.”
Bumps and bruises
Daly’s gridiron journey has not been without a few serious injuries.
“I had a concussion this past spring with the Cardinals,” he said. “We went for an onside kick, I tried to recover it and went helmet-to-helmet with a guy. But at least one of my teammates recovered it!
“I injured my quad and patella tendon making a tackle. And I tore a ligament in my ankle on a cheap shot. Rehabbing the ankle was one of the toughest things I have ever done. I couldn’t walk for a long time. I avoided surgery. Just a lot of physical therapy. My co-workers and friends are always saying, ‘What are you doing? You have work on Monday!’ But I’m having fun.”
Daly says this summer’s playoff run will likely be his last on the football field. But he isn’t totally closing the door.
“I’ve told the team this is probably it for me,” he said. “Too many injuries, and I want to be able to walk when I’m 40. But no one believes me. The joke in semi-pro football is that everyone says they’re done at the end of the season, then comes back the next year. There’s a good reason why everyone tells that joke, so we’ll see.”
TWITTER: DWillisET
TWITTER: DWillisET
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