Eric Ebron is a guy who has seriously toyed with the ‘first-round bust’ label. Perhaps one of the biggest reasons that he has been able to avoid it is because of his biggest motivator: failure. After a fairly pedestrian four-year career with the Detroit Lions, during which he averaged 47 catches for 518 yards and fewer than three touchdowns per season, he signed with the Indianapolis Colts in 2018, and his game took off to another level.
That year, working with Andrew Luck, he had a breakout, Pro Bowl year, catching 66 passes for 750 yards and 13 touchdowns. He was not able to follow that up in 2019 with Luck retiring and playing the season through ankle issues that landed him on injured reserve, limiting him to 11 game, but even still, prorated, he would have put up about 45-50 catches for 550ish yards and four or five touchdowns over a full season in 2019, working with Jacoby Jones.
Ebron has been rehabbing from his ankle surgery since last year, but has made major strides in recent months, and has been getting in a lot of work with the Footwork King. Baller Tribe recently posted a video to YouTube featuring him during his training, and he was asked to give some advice for young aspiring athletes.
The only thing that motivated me was failure, and I think the biggest thing that pushes me and motivates me is I never wanted to fail. I hate the feeling of failing, of letting people down, not fulfilling what I was meant to be, and as an athlete, I feel like my journey is to fulfill excitement for people to come out and enjoy what they say. So that’s what I try to do, try to promote that to the young kids. The worst thing that you can do in life is fail, and the only way you fail is by giving up. If you never give up, you’ll never fail.
After a disappointing, injury-plagued season, he landed a two-year contract with the Pittsburgh Steelers. Even before he signed, he was documented as being a fan of Ben Roethlisberger, and in fact, the quarterback this offseason helped to sell the front office on the idea of signing him.
Provided that both of them are healthy, this could be another great season for Ebron. He comes with his warts—he’s definitely going to drop passes, for one thing—but he will be a playmaker and will add a dimension to the offense that it has not ever had for a sustained period of time since Eric Green as an athletic tight end.
