By Ryan Kirton
Medill Reports

SAN JOSE, Calif. – You wouldn’t have known Efton Chism was an undrafted rookie if you were at Super Bowl Opening Night.

In a sea of superstars, seasoned veterans and even the MVP runner-up, Chism found himself caught up in a sea of reporters. There were times you could barely count on one hand the number of cameras pointed in his direction.

That’s because Chism, the wide-eyed receiver for the New England Patriots, is the underdog of all underdogs. He stands just 5 feet, 10 inches, and while many of his NFL counterparts came from a Power Four conference, he played for the Eastern Washington Eagles in the Football Championship Subdivision’s Big Sky Conference.

Now he has a chance to win Super Bowl LX as a rookie.

“You go through so much and there’s all these different challenges,” Chism said Monday. “I’m blessed that Coach (Mike) Vrabel gave me the opportunity for this team.”

Chism grew up in the Seattle suburb of Monroe, where he first got on the radar of Eastern Washington coaches. Marc Anderson, the Eagles’ offensive coordinator, has been a member of the team’s coaching staff since 2014. Even with all the players he has coached and recruited over the years, he still remembers first seeing Chism when Eastern Washington hosted Monroe High School at football camps.

“What showed up early was his love of football and his work ethic,” Anderson said. “And really, nobody could cover him at that point.”

No one could cover him in college either. Chism thrived in the Eagles’ offense, catching 120 passes for 1,311 yards in his senior year — the most of any receiver in the nation and breaking the school record for receptions in a season. Had he caught seven more passes, he would have had as many receptions as the rest of the roster combined.

And yet, Chism went undrafted and spent two weeks without a team before he finally had the opportunity to sign with the Patriots. Every practice, Chism came in with something to prove, and after showing off his sure-handedness in the preseason, he made the 53-man roster.

“I think Chism’s in my office every single morning at 6 a.m. That’s not an exaggeration,” Patriots wide receivers coach Todd Downing said. “He’s definitely hungry to have more and to do more and to grow and to learn. That’s an impressive work ethic and I’m excited to have it.”

In his 2025 campaign, Chism has caught all four of his targets for 95 yards and a touchdown. 

While Chism had quite the career in Eastern Washington, his career statistics are still not the best in school history. Many belong to Cooper Kupp, who is currently with the Seahawks.

“He’s one of the best players to ever play at our university, so I know everyone that goes there looks up to him tremendously,” Chism said of Kupp. “We just want to say thank you to him for giving a bunch of kids something to chase.”

Despite also being overlooked, Kupp has come into the league and dominated on all fronts. His performance in the 2021 NFL season is one of the greatest in league history, leading the league in receptions, yards and touchdowns, en route to winning Super Bowl LVI. He also won Super Bowl Most Valuable Player and Offensive Player of the Year that same season.

But as Chism and the Eagles community were celebrating Kupp’s success from their small town in rural Washington, Anderson couldn’t help but notice some parallels between the two receivers.

“They were guys that got overlooked a little bit and really stood out to us,” Anderson said. “You could kind of see the ceiling happening and see where they were headed. You never know that they’re going to be that good and playing in the Super Bowl against each other, but you could kind of see where they were going to take themselves.”

Kupp has also been closely following his fellow Eagle’s journey to the league. But though he has a lot of respect for Chism, Kupp is setting that aside. At least until after the Super Bowl.

“I’ll give him some advice next year,” Kupp said.

Ryan Kirton is a sports media specialization graduate student at Medill.