The star running backs of the NFL Draft class were Alvin Kamara, Dalvin Cook, Christian McCaffrey, Leonard Fournette, Joe Mixon, Kareem Hunt and several others you’ve probably started at some point on your fantasy team. The depth of talent was, and still is, considered historic. 

Dalton Crossan did not hear his name called during that draft, but the former University of New Hampshire running back did outpace all of those marquee names in the 20-yard shuttle.

“I didn’t even realize that until my friend put them side-by-side,” Crossan explained earlier this week about his pro day stats. His 4.46-second 40-yard dash would have ranked fourth-best among running backs at that year’s NFL Scouting Combine. His 11.19-second 60-yard shuttle was only eclipsed by McCaffrey.

Fans of the Premier Lacrosse League expressed a similar level of surprise over the weekend when news emerged that Crossan, who signed as an undrafted free agent with the Indianapolis Colts in 2017 and later had a stint with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, planned to sign with Chaos Lacrosse Club. Hours earlier, ESPN NFL Insider Adam Schefter tweeted that two-time Super Bowl champion wide receiver and Penn State lacrosse alum Chris Hogan had declared for the PLL Entry Draft. The Sachem Report broke the news of Crossan’s signing. 

It was not the first time the two multi-sport athletes were talked about in the same breath. After Crossan graduated from UNH, where he rushed for 2,617 yards and 27 touchdowns on 499 carries and caught 105 passes for 775 yards and eight TDs, the media instead harped on his lacrosse lineage. 

“Dalton Crossan the next Chris Hogan? Or maybe even better?” asked one ESPN headline. 

Crossan appreciated the comparisons “100 percent.” He still does. He also found them amusing. “I'm like, ‘Listen, guys,’” he said. “‘I've been a football player my whole life.’” 

Crossan picked up both sports around the age of 4 while growing up in Lake Ronkonkoma on Long Island. He likes to compare the lacrosse scene in the area to Texas football. That included the recruiting spotlight. Crossan stopped playing in summer lacrosse tournaments after the ninth grade to focus more on football but scored the most goals on Long Island his junior year after he transferred from Shoreham-Wading River to Sachem North. That got peoples’ attention. 

Local schools like Hofstra and Stony Brook came calling. So did national powers like Notre Dame and Syracuse. Michigan offered him a full scholarship. 

“There’s a lot of great lacrosse players, but when you find next-level athletes in our sport, even more so back then, you had to strongly consider them,” said former Michigan head coach John Paul, who coached Atlas LC during the inaugural PLL season. 

Crossan visited Ann Arbor with his dad, Mike, who played quarterback at East Carolina, and considered all of his options. His lifelong dream to play in the NFL won out. 

When New Hampshire co-offensive coordinator Michael Ferzoco recruited Crossan, he noted his Sachem North record 12.14 yards per carry his junior season and thought his lacrosse background might translate to catching the football. Ferzoco also watched Crossan’s “Athlete Video” on YouTube, in which he dunked a basketball, performed back flips and squatted 450 pounds. 

“If he can do all this stuff,” Ferzoco thought about the 2011 Hansen award winner, “we’ll figure out something for him.”

Ferzoco witnessed Crossan’s versatility on a daily basis as the Wildcats’ do-everything back and home run threat. At 5’11” and 204 pounds, he possessed elite ball skills and was an explosive playmaker. He could also get tough yards, and he was more than capable in blitz protection, too. He piled up 1,793 kick return yards. 

“He could do anything we asked him to do,” Ferzoco said.

Unlike Patrick Mahomes, who Crossan first met while training at EXOS in San Diego and now calls a friend, his NFL career got derailed before he found a firm footing. There was the torn adductor muscle he suffered in the final minutes of a preseason game with the Colts after he caught a screen pass. He endured nagging hamstring problems after he got to Tampa Bay, which previously limited him to only six games his sophomore season at UNH. The physical and mental toll added up. 

Crossan announced his retirement from football in September 2019. Afterwards, several of his friends who played in the PLL, like Chaos LSM Troy Reh and faceoff specialist Tommy Kelly, suggested he pursue lacrosse in the next chapter of his athletic career. Crossan at first balked at the idea. But the farther removed he got from football, the better he started to feel and the more he hungered for physical competition. 

“As a competitor my entire life, I’ll never lose that,” Crossan said. 

He entered the PLL player pool around this time last year and reached out to several coaches. 

Like most things, the pandemic altered his timeline. Andy Towers, the head coach of Chaos LC, said he wanted to sign Crossan last year, but the shift to the three-week fully quarantined Championship Series and its tight roster limits stalled the move. 

“This league really rewards the teams with the greatest speed and athleticism,” Towers said of the PLL, with its shortened field and 52-second shot clock. “You look at Dalton Crossan, and even though he hasn’t played a lot of lacrosse in the last seven, eight years, the reality is he’s instantaneously the best athlete in the league or right there at the very, very, very top.”

While Crossan, who turns 27 next week, played attack and midfield at Sachem North, he said he’s willing to fill in whatever position best contributes to the success of the club. He calls himself a “team guy.” His athleticism, in theory, translates best to a short-stick defensive midfielder role. 

“I’m bringing him in because I think he can help our team be better,” Towers said. “I’ll worry about specifics of where that’s going to be once everything falls into place and we see how he plays within the scheme. That’s going to be the challenge, but my guess is he will be at worst a d-middie for us.”

In some ways, Crossan considers the turn of events in 2020 an advantage, since it offered him an extra year to refine his stick skills and re-familiarize himself with the intricacies of the game. He compared the transition to riding a bike. While the speed and agility training remains the same as his football playing days, Crossan noted he’s worked more in the past year on the craft of lacrosse than in his entire life up to that point.

“I really want to take it seriously,” he said. “I know how tall of a task it is going to be to compete with those guys who are the best players in the world, so I just want to make sure I’m as ready as possible.” 

Still, he knows there’s an inevitable learning curve given his hiatus. Then there are the numbers. After the PLL’s merger with Major League Lacrosse in December, roster spots have never been more coveted or harder to secure. Before the expansion draft on March 11 for Cannons LC, the other seven teams can protect 13 field players and one goalie or 12 field players and two goalies. 

“The desire is to keep everybody on our roster from last summer,” Towers said. “The unfortunate part is that you’re probably not going to be able to do that.” 

The talent density makes Crossan and Hogan’s announcements all the more polarizing. Crossan saw the tweets. He’s fueled by the doubts, dating back to when he wasn’t heavily recruited for football despite his eye-popping numbers or when he wasn’t invited to the NFL Combine. 

“I love and embrace it,” Crossan said. “I really enjoy the ability to put that chip on my shoulder and have that mentality to prove people wrong and show what I can do.”

He believes you get out what you put in. If the player who used to spend 40 minutes before practice everyday at New Hampshire performing a rigorous warm-up routine he developed with a trainer who’s now the Colts’ director of sports performance ever forgets, he can always look at the tattoo on the inside of his left bicep. 

It’s his only ink. 

“Some people want it to happen. Some wish it would happen. Others make it happen,” reads the Michael Jordan quote in cursive script. 

“I believe in him,” Paul said. “If any guy has a shot here to buck the odds and make a roster, he certainly has that opportunity.”