That Time Pat McAfee LIED to the Colts About Knowing How To Hold Field Goals

Pat McAfee admitted on The Rich Eisen Show that his entire career as an Indianapolis Colts holder began with a flat-out lie to general manager Bill Polian's face.

McAfee had never held a field goal in his life. He'd kicked in college. The holding part of the equation was a foreign skill. None of that stopped him from telling Polian otherwise.

"I lied to Bill Polian's face," McAfee said. "Told him I knew how to hold coming out of college. I did not."

Polian, McAfee recalled, asked him about it during the pre-draft process. McAfee can't remember whether the question came over the phone or during a workout. He just remembers the answer.

"He was like, 'You know how to hold if we were to draft you to punt, right?' And nobody was looking for me to punt. I was like, 'Absolutely, yeah, yeah, I absolutely know how to do that.'"

Then McAfee got drafted.

The call that followed was not exactly a welcome. Adam Vinatieri, the legendary Colts kicker who would be relying on whoever held for him, picked up the phone the day after the draft. He knew McAfee's college history. He knew McAfee was a kicker, not a holder.

"He goes, 'Have you ever held before?'" McAfee recalled. "I'm like, 'Vinnie, I gotta tell you this. I lied right to Mr. B.'"

Vinatieri was, McAfee said, very mad. The first real conversation between the rookie and the future Hall of Famer started as a congratulations and turned quickly into a problem to be solved.

The solution was a personal holding camp. Vinatieri sent McAfee to North Carolina to train under Ken Walter, the holder who had worked with him in New England. McAfee stayed at Walter's house. He called it a wild scene and a boot camp.

"I had blisters on my fingers," McAfee said.

That first NFL game, McAfee admitted he didn't care how his punts went. The only thing that mattered was the hold.

"I had never been more nervous in my entire life," he said.

Rich asked how it played out. McAfee held for Vinatieri throughout his Colts career and said he had only one or two bad ones the entire time.

The boot camp clearly worked. McAfee credited it openly. Rich gave Walter the assist.

The rookie-veteran relationship built on that lie became something more. Vinatieri did not let McAfee off the hook after the camp. He kept coaching him. McAfee described Vinatieri walking into his room during training camp at night and throwing him 500 balls in a single session.

Vinatieri's pitch was simple, McAfee said. He had built a legacy in Indianapolis. He wasn't going to let a rookie ruin it because that rookie had lied to Bill Polian's face.

"I'm like, 'Hey, I'm with you, dog,'" McAfee said.

What started as a fib turned into a friendship. The two became close, McAfee said, over thousands of reps and one weird origin story.