Where did the term "pick" come from in an NFL interception?

Question

I know a pick is another name for an interception. Where did the term pick come from. It it short for another term?

Answer 1

being intercepted, used to be referred to as being picked off.

Answer 2

The term is a short form of pickoff, for which dictionary.com has 3 defintions:

1. To shoot after singling out: The hunter picked the ducks off one by one.
-- This would obviously match up with the NFL use by comparing game (hunted animals) to the football, with a cornerback or linebacker being a "hunter," keeping their eye on the ball in the attempt to "kill" the pass.

2. Baseball. To catch (a base runner) off base and put out with a quick throw, as from the pitcher or catcher, often to a specified base.
-- A sports idiom in itself, this one also relates in that the cornerback who makes the interception is keeping the ball from getting from point A (QB) to point B (WR), similarly to a baserunner trying to get from base to base.

3. Electronics. a mechanism that senses mechanical motion and produces a corresponding electric signal
-- The intercepting player senses or "reads" as you often hear a commentator say the throw of the quarterback and reacts, putting himself in the way of the throw so as to intercept the pass.

Answer 3

Picked off.

Answer 4

Let me give it a shot. How about that the ball is in the air and ripe for the'' pickin'' ? It was right there and the wrong person picked it.