A 6-6, 245-pound seam stretcher out of Notre Dame's Tight End U pipeline who wins on length, ball tracking, and the kind of stride-length speed that looks slow until it's not. Raridon went 8-for-8 on targets of 20+ yards in 2025 and posted a 9.66 RAS at the combine, validating the athletic profile scouts saw on tape. The blocking is willing but unfinished — he gets too tall in his stance and lacks the functional strength to stone NFL-caliber edge setters one-on-one, limiting his early-career role. Two ACL tears on the same right knee before he ever started a college game is the medical elephant in the room, and the thin frame at 245 pounds compounds the durability question. Ceiling is a Trey McBride-lite matchup weapon in a play-action-heavy offense; floor is a camp body whose knees don't cooperate.
- Elite catch-point ability at his size — went 4-of-6 on contested catches and 8-for-8 on deep targets (20+ yards) in 2025, leveraging a 79-inch wingspan and basketball background to track and high-point throws
- Sneaky build-up speed that stresses second-level defenders in the seam, evidenced by a 4.62 combine 40 and a 9.66 RAS (47th out of 1,356 TEs historically)
- Improving route discipline with good timing at the stem and emerging stutter-step/head-fake manipulation to freeze linebackers
- Willing blocker with enough length to seal edges in the run game — Notre Dame's 306-yard rushing day vs. USC in 2025 highlighted his contribution
- High-character, football-family pedigree, praised by coaches for leadership and work ethic in the TE room
- Two ACL tears on the same right knee (high school basketball + October 2022 practice) create a major medical red flag that will scare off risk-averse organizations
- Lacks the functional lower-body strength to consistently anchor against NFL-caliber defensive ends at the point of attack — gets pushed back when opponents come with power
- Route tree is underdeveloped due to limited career reps (only 48 career catches), with stiff transitions on option routes and in-breaking patterns that telegraph his intentions
- Below-average after-the-catch production — lacks burst, change of direction, and contact balance to create meaningful YAC despite averaging only 5.8 yards after catch
Similar oversized frame, inline/Y TE projection, willing but developing blocker with receiving flashes. Long was a third-round pick out of Boston College with comparable limitations in route diversity and similar upside as a matchup seam weapon. Bleacher Report's scouting department explicitly comped Raridon to Long (7.3 grade in 2021).