Nate Ebner won’t join the rest of his New England Patriots teammates Monday for the first day of the offseason training program.
Ebner is training with the U.S. rugby sevens team in hopes of playing in the Rio 2016 Olympics. Over the weekend, he was in Singapore to play in the World Rugby HSBC 7s Series, and he scored two tries in a 26-0 U.S. win over Portugal on Sunday.
These are Ebner’s first two tries on the U.S. national team. He scored a try earlier this month for the Samurai 7s.
The Rio 2016 Olympics run from Aug. 5 to Aug. 21, and rugby will be played from Aug. 7 to Aug. 11, so Ebner would miss the beginning of Patriots training camp if he makes the Olympic roster. The Patriots play preseason games Aug. 11, Aug. 18, Aug. 26 and Sept. 1. Their 2016 regular season opens Sept. 11 at 8:30 p.m. against the Arizona Cardinals.
Thumbnail photo via Geoff Burke/USA TODAY Sports Images
