Rome-born Baldonado says he’s ready, not raw
Habakkuk Baldonado is tired of being labeled as an NFL project. He understands it — he’s from Italy, where futbol, not football, is more the norm — but he’s tired of hearing it.
Baldonado, whose sporting pursuits were soccer, judo, and swimming growing up, was first attracted to football at 13, but the burgeoning receiver didn’t stick with it because of the travel. His interest was rekindled at 16 when he switched to defensive end and was selected for Italy’s junior national team.
He then moved to Florida, where he played for Clearwater Academy International his senior season. He collected 30½ sacks in his one American season. His recruitment started slowly, but eventually gained steam and he ended up at Pitt, where he had 15 sacks in 41 games.
“All my career, I’ve been called raw, and people have doubted my abilities,” Baldonado said last month at the NFL Scouting Combine. “Every time, we proved that wrong. I did that in high school, I did that in college.”
The 6-foot-4-inch, 251-pound defensive lineman already had a pretty good idea of what evaluators wanted to see from him after working with the Patriots coaching staff at the East-West Shrine Bowl in February.
The week in Las Vegas was more like an internship than an all-star game.
“It was a lot of fun. I learned a lot from coach Bill Belichick and the Patriots. I got a little inside look at what it’s like to be coached by an NFL coaching staff,” said Baldonado, who got a couple of one-on-one tutorials from Belichick.
“They were hands-on. If you made a mistake, they told you and they helped you correct it. Everyone knows the Patriots coaching staff is a little different. We spent time learning special teams. It was a great experience.”
Though Baldonado projects as an edge rusher, he has the body type and skill set that suggest he could be an every-down player who can shift inside, much the way Trey Flowers and Deatrich Wise have done.
He has excellent upper-body and arm strength and can ragdoll blockers on the way to the quarterback. Baldonado also has good balance and moves well laterally, allowing him to stretch and set the edge. Baldonado believes his varied sports background has aided his rapid football development.
“Football requires a lot of different skills. I take skills from each sport I played,” he said. “From soccer, it’s my footwork. In mixed martial arts, it’s my handwork as a pass rusher.”
After some spring and summer seasoning, Baldonado could be a nice fit as a rotational player on New England’s defensive front.