New Cincinnati Bengals tight end Jack Endries was not too happy about being drafted late, and that frustration is not going away any time soon.
Jack Endries
made it known he was not happy about being drafted in the seventh round.
"It's unbelievable," Endries said right after he was picked by the Cincinnati Bengals
. "And I'm going to make sure I make every team who didn't draft me pay, to be honest with you."
Endries was expected to go off the board much earlier than Cincinnati's No. 221 pick in the final round.
There's a great difference between a fourth or fifth-round selection, and a pick right before the draft ends.
The path to making the roster is significantly harder for Endries now, but he's already making sure the Bengals have every reason to keep him beyond the summer.
Endries spent two weeks getting ready for rookie minicamp last Friday. He signed his first NFL contract , and the fire inside him was still alive and well when asked about his anger at being drafted late.
"It's just a lot of frustration there," Endries said to FOX 19's Jeremy Rauch. "Because I felt like I went really late. I'm so happy for the Bengals for picking me up. Every team that passed on me or took a different guy, I'm definitely going to go out there with a little more hatred towards them and punishment out there. So I'm just going to try and do my best to beat those teams."
Endries' frustration is valid. He started as a walk-on at Cal and became the team's leading receiver three years later. He had one more productive season at Texas before exiting the college level, hoping to be drafted comfortably before the final round.
But the road to where he finds himself now started long before his college days, as his mentality.
"I was always. . .I had some rage in me," Endries said. "Like playing little league baseball, strike out, you might throw the bat or something. So it's always been there, just competitive and hate losing, you know, don't like losing to anyone."
That's a player who is be laser focused on winning, and will continue to be with his new team.
Endries will have a tough road to make the 53-man roster. He enters a deep tight end room with every member from last year's group back on the team. He'll need to prove he can make it better over the next four months.
He hasn't even put pads on yet, and he's making a strong case for Cincinnati keeping him on the team when the time comes.
