Eliot Wolf praises Eli Raridon as ‘tremendous athlete’ after injuries
· Yahoo Sports
The New England Patriots weren't the only team in need of a tight end in this draft, and Friday night proved that, with numerous others going off the board.
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However, when the team was on the clock with their third-round pick, a promising, versatile playmaker was still available, and despite some injury history, the Patriots saw a lot of promise and knew that they could help him develop.
New England selected Notre Dame tight end Eli Raridon with the 95th overall pick.
"Tremendous athlete," Patriots executive vice president of player personnel Eliot Wolf said after the round 2 and 3 selections. "Kind of an all-around guy, probably more of a pass catcher first, but a willing blocker. Again, as I said about all these rookies, he's going to have to get stronger, but really, really good worker, has a lot of talent... Just some untapped potential there with only the one year of real playing."
The reason why he doesn't have the statistics that some of the other players have is that he suffered a torn ACL in 2021 and then re-tore it in 2022, sidelining him for a large portion of his college career. However, Wolf made it clear that they did their homework on Raridon due to his injuries.
"The whole crew signed off on it," he said. "No real concerns. We brought Eli in for a pre-draft visit, and so they were able to examine him not only at the Combine, but also here, and no concerns."
So, as long as he stays healthy, Raridon could truly become a top weapon for Drake Maye and the Patriots.
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This article originally appeared on Patriots Wire: Eliot Wolf praises Eli Raridon as ‘tremendous athlete’ after injuries