The old saying is “luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.” For Eastern Washington wide receiver Efton Chism III, he needed a little luck in the pre-draft process to generate some more buzz despite a record-setting 2024 season.
He nearly missed his opportunity to do so.
Chism, who competed in the 2025 East-West Shrine Bowl in Dallas, was asleep around 9:30 PM/ET in Florida on Jan. 24. Unbeknownst to him, his agent was trying to call him with a massive opportunity. Fortunately, Chism’s roommate woke him up at 11:30 with a call from his agent, stating that Chism would be heading to the Shrine Bowl as a late add.
Catching an early 4 AM Uber to the airport in Florida, Chism had a whirlwind week ahead of him. To his credit, he took advantage of the opportunity and generated quite a bit of buzz as he dominated at the Shrine Bowl, looking like the best receiver there day after day.
For those who have followed Chism during his time at Eastern Washington, that isn’t a surprise. He’s one of the all-time leading receivers in a number of categories in program history, breaking some records previously held by names like Cooper Kupp and Kendrick Bourne.
Hitting the ground running, though, in a competitive environment like the Shrine Bowl with NFL scouts and coaches looking on, that’s not easy. For Chism, being able to do that and succeed the way he did in Dallas was due to his mindset.
“It’s kind of always this the mindset of just always being ready to go. Like, I didn’t think I was coming here, and then all of a sudden I’m coming here and it’s like, if I prepared differently, if I thought I didn’t treat it as every day’s [an] opportunity to get to get better and to get ready, I wouldn’t have been able to hit the ground running like I did when I got here,” Chism told Steelers Depot following a Shrine Bowl practice. “So it just kind of the way I approach things every day, kind of always helped me get to that point, and then when I got here, it was like, ‘Man, it’s just playing football at the end of the day’, and that’s all I wanna do, and I love doing it, so just go out there and just kind of be myself.”
Be himself, he did.
Checking in at 5105, 195, Chism displayed what made him an FCS All-American at Eastern Washington, dominating as a route runner, consistently winning routes and getting open to make plays. Time and time again, he flashed and made plays.
That route running and the consistency within it is what’s going to get him a look at the NFL level. While the size might signal a slot receiver in the NFL, Chism’s a guy who has played boundary and slot in college, playing primarily boundary in his first two seasons before playing in the slot this past season.
In both positions he’s been able to hone his route running, leaning on what he believes is the key, which is having three areas within the route to win the rep: the start, the middle and the top of the route.
For a guy who enjoys spray painting in his free time and wears customized cleats he paints for every game, Chism lets his artistic side shine in his route running, too.
“Top of the route, I think, just like always selling vertical and then I feel like I can stop and start better than a lot of people and that’s kind of something I take pride in is just being able to get in and get out of breaks, because at the end of the day, we always look at it like there’s three different spots where you can win a route, and then there’s top, middle, and end, and you can also lose any of those three,” Chism said of what goes into making him a good route runner. “So you can win the release and still lose at the top. So, at the end of the day, if you can win at the top of the route, you can win the route, so just always kind of working on my craft, little things like that. But I think definitely route running is my strength.
“I take pride in run after catch. We always kind of always get in trouble if we let one person tackle us. We always gotta make one person miss and make at least two people tackle us. So that’s definitely something I take pride in as a receiver.”
Winning in three separate areas of the route is something Chism did time and time again, helping him to the tune of 346 career receptions for 3,852 yards and 37 touchdowns during his time at Eastern Washington. That includes a 120-catch, 1,311-yard, 13-touchdown season in 2024.
Coming from a prolific program like Eastern Washington when it comes to producing some big-play receivers in today’s NFL, Chism has some mentors to pull from. One of those includes Cooper Kupp, a guy whom Chism has a good relationship with and has gone to for advice.
That advice, along with some studying of game tape from Kupp’s time with the Eagles, helped Chism break some of Kupp’s records in 2024, putting Chism on the NFL map.
“He is super busy, so we talk. I’ve actually been blessed enough to talk before the season and then after the season, so that’s kind of our timeline. I’ll shoot them like a couple texts during the season, then he’ll re reply to me at the end and then this year, which was awesome,” Chism said of his relationship with Kupp. “I sent him a couple before the season, and then sent me back some super good stuff, and he’s not responding as a coach. He’s responding as a genuine human being. Building our relationship, that has been awesome.
“He’s been a great role model for me just kind of look up to.”
He’s also been a guy Chism has modeled his game after, along with former Seattle Seahawks wide receiver Doug Baldwin. That showed up during the Shrine Bowl as Chism’s body movements, route running and the way he carries himself on and off the field reminds some of Kupp.
Though Kupp was a few inches taller and heavier than Chism coming out of Eastern Washington in the 2017 NFL Draft, Chism has the production and the consistency that Kupp had in college. In today’s passing league, Chism profiles as a guy teams would be wise to take a shot on during Day 3 of the draft.
He proved that during the week of the Shrine Bowl, and in the game where he led all receivers with four receptions for 43 yards. He might even get a chance to show the rest of the world what many saw at the Shrine Bowl, should he get a Combine invite, too.
