Patriots Rookie Eli Raridon Scores the NFL's First Touchdown of the 2026 Season
In a game defined by a fourth-quarter meltdown, a rookie's two-yard catch was the one moment New England will want to remember.
Patriots rookie tight end Eli Raridon caught a 2-yard touchdown pass from Drake Maye with 9:11 left in the second quarter of Wednesday night's 13-10 loss to Seattle — the first touchdown scored by either team, and the first points scored anywhere in the entire 2026 NFL season. It was the lone highlight in a game that unraveled late: Maye finished 23-for-33 for 178 yards and that one touchdown, but threw three interceptions, including a third-and-5 pass into the end zone that Seattle cornerback Josh Jobe picked off with under a minute left to seal the loss.
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It was also the first regular-season catch, and first NFL touchdown, of Raridon's career. New England selected the 6-foot-7, 251-pound tight end with the 95th overall pick in the third round of the 2026 draft out of Notre Dame, where he set career highs with 48 catches and 623 yards in his lone full-time starting season. Patriots EVP of player personnel Eliot Wolf called him a "tremendous athlete" with "some untapped potential" after only one real year as a full-time starter, having flashed real receiving ability without ever fully cementing a role in Notre Dame's offense. Wolf also described Raridon's overall game plainly: "Kind of an all-around guy, probably more of a pass catcher first, but a willing blocker" — a real two-way skill set that matches exactly what New England's offense needed at the position. On the scoring play itself, Raridon was left completely uncovered in the end zone, a real coverage breakdown by Seattle that made Maye's throw close to a formality once the tight end found the soft spot.
At some point down there it's a reflection of the quarterback. Down in the red zone I've got to do better, do more, make better throws, and give our guys chances because they're playing their butts off.— Drake Maye, Patriots QB, on his own red-zone execution
Our take: it's easy to lose a rookie's real moment inside a loss this ugly, but a third-round tight end scoring the league's first touchdown of the year on his first career target is a genuine building block, not a footnote — especially with A.J. Brown now hurt and New England needing more real weapons around Maye immediately, not eventually. Maye's own final-minute interception is the headline that will follow this game, and rightly so, but a rookie tight end already flashing real hands in a nationally televised opener is exactly the kind of development New England needs if it wants to trust Maye with more, not less, responsibility going forward. A rebuilt receiver room around him only works if the young pieces in it actually produce early, and Raridon just gave the coaching staff genuine evidence he belongs in that plan. There's also a real program pedigree behind the moment: Notre Dame has produced a genuine run of NFL-caliber tight ends in recent draft classes, enough that the position group has earned its own real "Tight End U" reputation nationally, and Raridon becoming the first player in the league to find the end zone this season is a fitting way to extend that lineage.
Raridon's Rookie Season Outlook
Patriots select Raridon 95th overall in the third round out of Notre Dame.
Raridon catches a 2-yard TD from Drake Maye — his first career catch, and the league's first score of 2026.
A.J. Brown's ankle injury opens the door for more early-season targets.
A rookie's first touchdown became the lone bright spot in an otherwise deflating night for New England.
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Sources: Yahoo Sports, NBC Sports, Bleacher Report