As fans all around the world eagerly tune in to this year’s NFL draft, one local diamond in the rough from Flanders may just be one of the names called.
Former Riverhead football star and Villanova University product Ethan Greenidge has done his best to place himself in the conversation among the elites in his position despite having surgery in January to repair a torn shoulder labrum. The surgery forced him to sit out the NFL combine in late March, where NFL teams poke and prod and test players with certain drills that translate to on-the-field production. Not being able to participate really hurt the 6’5 327-pound offensive lineman’s draft stock but it was a decision that had to be made.
“I hurt it in October but still decided to play through it,” Greenidge said. “I was thinking about not getting the surgery but going to the NFL combine with an injury would’ve been a red flag. I wouldn’t have passed the physical and I wouldn’t have been able to show my best.”
Greenidge was advised to get the surgery right after the East-West Shrine game, which is a college football post-season all-star game. It was a final time for scouts to get a look at the offensive tackle even though he was playing with an injury. Getting the surgery in January put him on pace him to be ready mid-june right in time for offseason workouts.
“My surgery kind of messed things up,” Greenidge said. “My agent told me that without the surgery I would have 100-percent been drafted. But I’m still looking on the brighter side of things. It could still happen.”
The four-year collegiate starter still measured in at the NFL Combine and met with just about every team in the league. A week ago, the Kansas City Chiefs actually flew Greenidge out to meet with him in person.
“They really like me,” he said.
All the meetings and dinners indicate obvious interest in him but it’s hard to say whether they want to draft him or not.
“They won’t tell you what they’re going to do or anything like that,” Greenidge said. “There’s so many moving parts in the draft so you just don’t know. I do know I have draft-able grades from most of the teams but again you just don’t know what’s going to happen.”
Greenidge has the size to be able to compete at a high level and his tape speaks for itself. Four years of starting on the offensive line is experience not many tackles have coming into the NFL draft. Most teams were very interested in delving into his football mind and getting a sense of his understanding of schemes and plays.
“Everyone knows football is more mental than anything,” Greenidge said. “They’ve seen my film and can see what I can do on a football field but being able to talk through the film and tell them what I was thinking and doing here and there gives them more insight into who I am as a player.”
Even if Greenidge doesn’t get drafted, he will be signed as a free agent. There’s just too much upside for teams to pass on him. He will be in the NFL. He will get his chance to prove his worth. The draft is just a matter of pay structure when it comes down to it. The higher you get drafted, the higher you get paid as a rookie. It means little to what you’ll do at the next level.
Austin Calitro, one of Greenidge’s ex-teammates at Villanova, went undrafted two years ago and ended up signing with the Seattle Seahawks. Not only has he played, the linebacker even started a few games this year. The two have stayed in contact.
“He just told me ‘you could play with these boys’ even coming from a smaller school,” Greenidge said. “It doesn’t matter how big or small your school is, if you can play, you can play.”
All Greenidge wants is an opportunity.
“It’s not so much about the money for me,” Greenidge said in regards to where he could get drafted. “I’m just trying to play the game I love as long as I can.”
Scouts have projected him as a last-day draft choice, somewhere in the 6th or 7th round. Some said higher, some said undrafted. Some scouts say his body type fits more in line with a guard in the NFL rather than a tackle. But where Greenidge gets drafted or where they want him to play doesn’t matter much to him.
“I just want to know where I’m going to be and who I’m going to play for,” he said. “I don’t care if they want to play me at guard, center, tackle, quarterback. I feel like I can do it all.”
For the draft, Greenidge’s friends and family are flying out to be with him at Villanova as he waits to see if any of his job interviews have landed him a spot on a roster.
“I want to be around the people I love the most,” Greenidge said. “Without my parents, my brother, my friends, I wouldn’t have gotten to this point.”
Even though his mind is moving a million miles a second with the impending news, reflecting back on his times at Riverhead High School really keeps things in perspective for him.
“I didn’t think I would be able to do this while I was growing up,” Greenidge said. “But anyone can do it. You just have to surround yourself with the right people who push you and keep you on the right path. If you stay focused and stay away from the violence and drugs and keep God first, the sky is the limit.”
Greenidge even has a party planned for everyone in Riverhead, drafted or not.
“I want to have a huge barbecue at Stotzky park in July or something around that time,” he said. “Just to say thanks to everyone that’s helped me along the way.”
The people of Riverhead will undoubtedly have their fingers crossed in hopes that one of their own reaches the highest stage in the game of football.
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