In December of his senior year at Valley High School in West Des Moines, Iowa, Eli Raridon tore the ACL in his right knee. A standout on the team’s varsity football team who, as a four-star recruit, had multiple scholarship offers lined up, he suffered the injury competing in another sport: basketball.
Raridon had played both football and basketball since his early childhood, and the injury suddenly forced him pause what had been a promising career. It also set the stage for a journey that ultimately
led to him joining the New England Patriots as a third-round draft choice on Friday.
Raridon underwent surgery after the torn ACL, in hopes of quickly returning to the football field as a college freshman at Notre Dame. He managed to do so, but just 10 months after the initial injury tore the same ligament again. This second tear resulted in more missed time, a slower buildup at the college level, and eventually in Raridon not fully cracking the Fighting Irish starting lineup until his 2025 senior season.
The multi-year saga can all be traced back to that fateful day on the basketball court in December 2021. And yet, as Raridon explained during his introductory conference call with the New England media, his second sport is precisely why he has become the player he is today.
“Basketball was always part of my life growing up, and I really feel like it helped me be better controlled with my body going up, high-pointing the ball, things like that,” he explained. “I think it’s definitely helped me translate early on in my career.”
With his knee injuries hampering him early on in his college career, Raridon put up only modest production in his four seasons at Notre Dame. In 40 games including 18 starts, he hauled in only 48 passes for 623 yards and a trio of touchdowns.
However, as he mentioned, he was able to make big plays for his team when called upon. His receiving average of 13.0 yards per catch did not happen by accident; it is a direct byproduct of Raridon being able to stress teams deep and also use his size and basketball background to his advantage.
“That’s something I take a lot of pride in, being a deep threat who can go up and get the ball when it’s thrown to me. And I think basketball has helped with that,” he said.
As far as his knee is concerned, there is no concern.
Executive vice president of player personnel Eliot Wolf said on Friday that the medicals came back clean, not only from the Combine checkup but also the in-house analysis conducted by the Patriots’ staff during his pre-draft visit. As opposed to his college career, the 21-year-old can therefore hit the ground running entering the NFL — something he very much is looking forward to.
“I’m feeling amazing, no effects at all,” Raridon said. “Obviously, I’ve done a lot of hard work to rehab that as well, but my body feels amazing and I’m ready to get to work.”
