Despite standing at just 5-foot-10, it\u2019s been nearly impossible to miss Efton Chism III on the New England Patriots\u2019 practice fields this offseason. After being one of the team\u2019s spring standouts, the undrafted wide receiver out of Eastern Washington has now been piling up catches in recent days of training camp.<\/p>\n
But his best work may be coming off the field, where Chism has made a quick impression on his teammates and coaches.<\/p>\n
\u201cAbsolute joy to work with. His work ethic is second to none. A guy that understands that he\u2019s got to fight for all of his opportunities and then make the most of them when he gets them,\u201d wide receiver coach Todd Downing said Monday. \u201cFrom the spring until now, I think he has a little bit more comfort and grasp of the offense, which helps him play faster. You\u2019re seeing him then take the next steps of playing more physical on route tops and finishing catches.\u201d<\/p>\n
Chism\u2019s improvement showed when the Patriots returned to practice this week, as he went up to finish a contested catch in the end zone with Marcus Jones tight in coverage off a pass from Joshua Dobbs on Sunday.<\/p>\n
That came after the Patriots\u2019 preseason opener, where Chism led the team with six receptions for 50 yards and a touchdown. His performance drew praise from both head coach Mike Vrabel and quarterback Drake Maye, who Chism then shared the field with at times in Monday\u2019s scout-team work as preparation for joint practice in Minnesota began.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe fits really well within the scheme and offense. He does a great job in the routes that he has of being fast when he needs to, but also being strategic when he needs to,\u201d Dobbs said. He\u2019s a QB-friendly target, like in the red zone or on third down. He gets a lot of good matchups, and he wins those matchups, which is most important. So we saw the plays that he made in the game, but as you guys have probably seen, like he\u2019s done it practice, starting back in the spring, now throughout camp, and it\u2019s good to see it in game situations.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Dobbs, the veteran quarterback\u2019s attention has also been caught by Chism\u2019s work off the field, which has included seeking advice from older players such as Dobbs and Mack Hollins, as well as adding extra walkthrough reps before games and practices.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s growing each day. I would say his attention to detail is probably what has allowed him to take advantage of those opportunities,\u201d Dobbs said. \u201cHe\u2019s playing the mental game before practice and before the game, so that he\u2019s prepared when he steps on the field. So, he deserves all the love that he\u2019s getting, but I think he understands that it\u2019s just one day at a time, take advantage of each opportunity, and each day is a new day to go out and dominate and make plays on the field.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Despite standing at just 5-foot-10, it\u2019s been nearly impossible to miss Efton Chism III on the New England…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":282085,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2050],"tags":[7,1167,249,52113,20134,20133,2326,2094,6,208],"class_list":{"0":"post-282084","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-england-patriots","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-new-england","10":"tag-new-england-patriots","11":"tag-new-england-patriots-first-read","12":"tag-new-england-patriots-preseason","13":"tag-new-england-patriots-training-camp","14":"tag-newengland","15":"tag-newenglandpatriots","16":"tag-nfl","17":"tag-patriots"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115015652856108171","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282084","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=282084"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282084\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/282085"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=282084"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=282084"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=282084"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}