{"id":888352,"date":"2026-05-11T12:45:25","date_gmt":"2026-05-11T12:45:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/888352\/"},"modified":"2026-05-11T12:45:25","modified_gmt":"2026-05-11T12:45:25","slug":"patriots-rookie-eli-raridon-praised-by-former-coach-for-potential","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/888352\/","title":{"rendered":"Patriots Rookie Eli Raridon Praised by Former Coach for Potential"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\"Eli\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGetty\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Notre Dame offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock praised New England Patriots rookie tight end Eli Raridon, particularly for his NFL potential.<\/p>\n

In the third round of this year\u2019s NFL Draft, the New England Patriots<\/a> went looking for another option at tight end. They ended up landing on Eli Raridon<\/a>, who had previously been a star talent for Notre Dame<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In a draft where 17 different tight ends were selected in the first five rounds, the Patriots are hoping they found a diamond in Raridon. Certainly, there\u2019s potential there, which his offensive coordinator at Notre Dame, Mike Denbrock, recently touched on.<\/p>\n

\u201cEli has been conducting himself, for a long period of time, with the type of attitude and structure and understanding of living a professional life as anybody I\u2019ve ever been around,\u201d Denbrock told ESPN<\/a>. \u201cThat\u2019s going to pay big dividends going to the next step.\u201d<\/p>\n

Raridon first landed at Notre Dame in the Class of 2022 as a four-star recruit. There, he looked to join a long lineage of great Irish tight ends, which culminated in his senior season in 2025. He finished his senior campaign with 32 receptions for 482 yards.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe just continued to get better and better and better. I think it\u2019s something that\u2019s been building and leads me to believe his best football is ahead of him, which is exciting,\u201d Denbrock said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was really his first opportunity to be the featured guy while he was here at Notre Dame. It was his time to kind of take on the responsibility of that room from a leadership standpoint. Then also from backing it up with an example of the way to play the game at the tight end position in the Notre Dame tradition.\u201d<\/p>\n

One key to the 2025 season that Denbrock noted was how Raridon became an outlet valve for first-time starting quarterback C.J. Carr. He explained Raridon, \u201creally became kind of our young starting quarterback\u2019s best friend as the season went along [because] he knew he was someone he could count on.\u201d Obviously, that\u2019s something the Patriots would like to see happen with Drake Maye<\/a> as well.<\/p>\n

Eli Raridon and the Patriots agreed to his rookie contract over the weekend of Rookie Minicamp. It\u2019s a four-year rookie deal. So, he\u2019ll have time to grow into that potential.<\/p>\n

New England Patriots Tight End Eli Raridon has Been Limited by Injury Concerns\"Eli<\/p>\n

GettyEli Raridon playing with Notre Dame<\/p>\n

There is a lot to like about Eli Raridon for the New England Patriots. With an excellent frame that he can still add weight to, Raridon succeeded as both a pass catcher and a blocker at Notre Dame.<\/p>\n

Of course, he\u2019s also not a sure-fire thing. Nobody is, but the concern around Raridon is that he has an extensive injury history, particularly as it relates to tearing his ACL.<\/p>\n

The first time Raridon tore the ACL in his right knee was while he was in high school. After recovering from that and getting on the field as a freshman, he tore that same ACL again. That severely limited him early in his time at Notre Dame and directly contributed to why he was only a starter for his senior season.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not inherent that Raridon is going to have those injury issues follow him to the NFL, but they\u2019re also a legitimate concern. So, avoiding them is key to his development.<\/p>\n

Eli Raridon Praised as Potential All-Pro Player for Patriots\"Eli<\/p>\n

GettyNew England Patriots draft pick Eli Raridon<\/p>\n

There is a lot of excitement around Eli Raridon. That goes beyond his former coaches too. Media members and analysts, like CLNS Media\u2019s Taylor Kyles, see it too.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think year 3 or 4,\u201d Kyles said<\/a>. \u201cI could see him being a legitimate Pro Bowl quality player\u2026I think at some point in his career he\u2019s gonna be knocking on an All-Pro\u2026What about his game would make you think he\u2019s not?\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s obviously a top-end projection for the Raridon with the Patriots. Still, it\u2019s hard not to dream about what that could look like.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tDan Morrison<\/a> After graduating from UMass in 2019, Dan Morrison quickly began a career in sports journalism and digital media. That has seen him work both as a contributing writer at several publications, as well as spending time on the National News Desk at On3. During that time, he has spent the majority of his time covering football, both at the college and NFL levels. Currently residing in Central Florida, his focus with Heavy is on the NFL. More about Dan Morrison<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty Notre Dame offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock praised New England Patriots rookie tight end Eli Raridon, particularly for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":888353,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2050],"tags":[7,1167,249,2326,2094,6,208],"class_list":{"0":"post-888352","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-newengland","12":"tag-newenglandpatriots","13":"tag-nfl","14":"tag-patriots"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116556014783056724","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/888352","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=888352"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/888352\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/888353"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=888352"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=888352"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=888352"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}