Patriots safety Ebner, former Lions RB Best named to Olympic teams
There are very, very few circumstances under which we can imagine Bill Belichick letting one of his players to miss training camp time. But the Summer Olympics is apparently one of them.
On Monday, USA Rugby men’s sevens head coach Mike Friday named the squad that will represent the country at the Olympics in Brazil, and among the 12 men named is current New England Patriots safety/special teamer Nate Ebner.
Rugby is making its Olympic return after a nearly 100-year absence; the last time it was played in Summer Games competition was in 1924, when the United States won gold (the standard 15-men to a side was played then).
Ebner was a standout rugby player throughout his childhood, learning the game from his father, Jeff, who had played college rugby. As a teenager, Nate Ebner was playing against men his father’s age, and at 17 he became the youngest player to play for the USA Sevens team, named MVP of the under-19 Junior World Championships and MVP of the under-20 world championship a year later.
But Ebner wanted to try football too, and successfully walked on the team at Ohio State, his first experience with organized football. Despite his limited experience, the Patriots liked what they saw from Ebner on special teams and used a sixth-round pick on him in 2012.
He’s played in 57 games over the last four seasons, primarily as a special-teamer and seeing spot duty at safety.
Earlier this year, knowing rugby was making a return to the Olympics, Ebner decided to return to the sport as well, and received public support from the Patriots, despite taking his leave just a couple of days after signing a two-year extension to stay with the team:
We are proud to support @Natebner34 in his effort to earn a place on the United States National Rugby team.
— New England Patriots (@Patriots) March 15, 2016
Ebner has been training with the US team for the past four months, and on Monday, he got the chance to become possibly the third man with both a Super Bowl ring and Olympic medal. Currently “Bullet” Bob Hayes, who was a member of the Super Bowl VI-winning Dallas Cowboys and a two gold medals in sprinting at the 1964 Summer Games and former San Francisco 49ers nose tackle Michael Carter, who was part of three Super Bowl-winning teams and earned a silver medal in shot put at the 1984 Games, are the only men with that distinction.
There will be another NFL player at the Olympic Village: former Detroit Lions running back Jahvid Best.
Best will represent St. Lucia in the 100 meters at the Games, after being granted dual citizenship – his father is from the small Caribbean island nation.
A first-round pick of the Lions in 2010, Best hasn’t played in the NFL since 2011, when he suffered his fourth concussion in three years during a game against the 49ers. But he was a standout sprinter in high school, and returned to the track full-time about 18 months ago.
Earlier this year, Best ran a career-best 10.16 seconds in the 100 meters at a meet in California, meeting the Olympic standard. But he’ll have to run much faster to advance at the Olympics.
