Former Irish TE Eli Raridon scores first career, NFL 2026 season TD

There is another potential name to add to Notre Dame list of candidates for it to be ‘Tight End U,’ as a rookie has a night to remember on Wednesday.

Eli Raridon was taken by the New England Patriots in the third round of this past NFL draft, many looking at his stats and wonder why he went so high. He had three touchdowns during his time in South Bend, but didn’t catch one during his final season last fall. Raridon did set a career-high in both receptions and yards, with a long of 65.

He’d be an unlikely pick to score the first touchdown of the 2026 season, but he did just that, which also happened to be his first time since the 2025 season finale against USC. Not only that, it was his only target of the game, making it that much more improbable.

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Raridon will forever hold the distinction of scoring the first touchdown of an NFL season along with it being his first that that level and score.

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This article originally appeared on Fighting Irish Wire: Former Irish TE Eli Raridon scores first career, NFL 2026 season TD