Boulware upset Panthers took a kicker with last pick instead of him |
Former Clemson linebacker
Ben Boulware signed as an undrafted free agent with the Carolina Panthers following this weekend's NFL Draft, but Boulware is
upset the Panthers took a kicker with their seventh round pick instead of him.
Boulware told ESPN that he wasn't happy when he learned the Panthers selected a kicker -- Georgia Tech's Harrison Butker -- over him in the seventh round. "It hurt a little bit," Boulware said. "I'm sure he's a great player and a great kicker. I'm sure that was a need on their team. "But I would have loved to have been that pick." The Anderson, SC, native went on to say that watching the draft and not getting called by an NFL team stung, but the sting was eased by getting a call from Panthers head coach Ron Rivera. "It sucked," Boulware said. "It was a long three days. I was by my phone the whole time waiting for a call and didn't get one. That (the call from Rivera) eased the pain a little bit. But honestly, I wish he'd called me a little earlier." Boulware says he understands there are people who say he's too small to play in the NFL, and he has an answer for his critics. "I'm in the business of proving people wrong," Boulware said. "They said I would never play for Clemson or never start or never make an impact. I was a consensus All-American the past two years, so I'm not really sweating what the critics say. "I'm really not trying to prove anybody wrong. I'm trying to prove myself right, that I'm capable of playing at this level because I know I am."
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