Patton, Sutton ink deals to become pro football players

Caeveon Patton hasn’t been able to go grocery shopping the past few days without being asked for a photo or an autograph. Everyone he greets is excited about his next move.

The longtime Texas State defensive lineman was one of two Bobcats to sign with a pro football team last weekend, joining defensive back Eric Sutton.

“It still doesn’t even feel real, you know?” Patton said. “It’s crazy because your dream came true and you’ve been working for it your whole entire life.”

After weeks of training at the Athlete Performance Enhancement Center (APEC) in Fort Worth, Patton returned to San Marcos to take part in Texas State’s Pro Day in front of a handful of NFL scouts at Bobcat Stadium on March 11. Though Patton wasn’t told all the specific numbers he posted, he still felt good about he measured up — he’d slimmed down a bit, weighing in at 292 pounds, bench pressed 225 pounds for 22 reps and set a personal record with a 34-inch vertical.

Patton, who played for the maroon and gold from 2017-21, spoke with the scouts who were in attendance that day, who told him he’d performed well. But that was the last he heard from them for a while. After the Pro Day, he returned to APEC to work out for another two weeks, then moved back home to Cuero.

For the next month, Patton spent his time training other athletes in the area for four days a week and himself five days a week.

“And I didn’t hear from any teams the whole entire process until literally one week before the draft —  it was the (Houston) Texans, they reached out,” Patton said. “Their player personnel person reached out to my agent and wanted my information. And then the (Indianapolis) Colts reached out to me and wanted my information.”

The Colts’ inquiry seem to go a step further from Patton’s perspective, as they texted him a “Draft Day Survey” that asked particularly specific questions — Where will you be during the draft? What’s your main phone number? What’s your backup phone number? What airport do you fly out of? How many teams have reached out to you? Which teams have shown the most interest?

Patton filled out the survey and sent it back to the Colts. He watched the draft from home as it began in Las Vegas on April 28.

He was still waiting to see how things played out as the last day of the draft rolled around on April 30. Patton attended a housewarming party hosted by his sister and brother-in-law. The Colts selected Curtis Brooks out of Cincinnati with the 38th pick of the sixth round — a defensive lineman. Patton’s chances of getting picked dropped significantly. The draft ended without his name being called.

The two-time All-Sun Belt Honorable Mention was officially an undrafted free agent. Patton put his phone down a started a game of dominoes with his father, brother-in-law and family friend.

Two turns into the game, though, Patton’s phone rang. It was his agent, asking if he wanted to be a Colt.

“I was like, ‘Hell yeah!’” Patton said. “So I jumped up, I was crunk, everybody in my family was going crazy … I ended up missing the call from the Colts, so I called them back, they were excited. They just said they really liked me, they liked the way I performed at my Pro Day, they watched my tape, they loved my tape, they liked that I was consistent over the years. So they wanted to bring me into camp as a free agent and wanted to give me a shot to make the team.”

“Caeveon has prepared for this opportunity his entire life and conducted himself like a professional every day of his career with us at Texas State,” Bobcats head coach Jake Spavital said via text. “I have no doubt that he will show up every day ready to work hard and prove to be a vital member of the Colts organization. Excited to see him take the next step in his career.”

Sutton worked toward the same goal for a long time, too. He was born in Regina, the capital of Saskatchewan, Canada, while his father, Eric Sutton Sr., played for the Roughriders of the Canadian Football League in 1998. When he was still little, Eric and his mother, Emily Sutton, moved in with his grandmother in Compton, Calif. Emily raised Eric by herself, working in ticket sales for the Los Angeles Clippers and Kings — Eric called her a “hustler,” someone who was always trying to improve their circumstances. 

When Eric got a bit older, Emily moved them to the east coast after getting a job with the Miami Dolphins. Eric found his passion for football living in Miami Gardens, Fla.

“That’s really where I came to be a dog,” Sutton said. “Growing up in that environment, it’s an environment where, you know, you have all these millions of people kind of in an enclosed space. Like, Florida is not a big, spaced-out state like Texas is. So you got all these different types of people all in one area, basically. And because that, as a football player, opportunities are going to be limited. You gotta be a dog.”

Eric was thankful for his time in Florida. It gave him a strong foundation in the sport and allowed him to meet “great, great” coaches like Pearson Sutton — unrelated to Eric and Emily — who he still trains with to this day.

But when Eric was about 16 years old, he remembers coming home from track practice and finding everything his family owned on the ground outside in front of their apartment.

“I’ll never forget it,” Eric said. “We had basically gotten thrown out on the street. And that really just lit a fire in me.”

Emily relocated the family to Dallas and Eric began playing at Cedar Hill. He had 40-plus tackles, six pass breakups and two forced fumbles his senior season in 2015 and was rated a three-star recruit by 247Sports. He was offered on the spot while at one of SMU’s camps and committed to the Mustangs on Feb. 3, 2016.

He played in all but three games for SMU during his first three seasons, matching up with future NFL wide receivers Courtland Sutton, James Proche and Trey Quinn every day in practice. Eric suffered an injury four games into the 2019 season that kept him on the sideline for the rest of the year, allowing him to redshirt. He then opted out of the 2020 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic, giving him one more year of eligibility.

Eric had been used almost exclusively as a cornerback during his time with the Mustangs. He knew that if he wanted to go pro as a 5-foot-9 defensive back, he’d have to show some versatility on tape. He decided to enter the transfer portal, seeking out a team that he’d immediately be able to make an impact for and one that would also line him up at different positions like nickel back.

On Dec. 8, 2020, he transferred to Texas State.

“I had to make a business decision,” Eric said. “I feel like the defense (Texas State is) running is a defense that a lot of teams are transitioning to just from a scheme and just from a lineup perspective because it gives you the best advantage over quicker guys and playmakers in the slot. It gives you a big advantage when you can put an extra corner out there at that fifth DB spot … It’s pretty much a professional defense.”

Eric played in 10 games for the Bobcats, racking up a career-high 22 tackles. After the season, he returned to the DFW to play in the College Gridiron Showcase in early January. Eric said he did well at the showcase and spoke to some NFL and CFL scouts at the event, but knew he was undersized at 172 pounds. He then went back to Florida to work with Coach Pearson, preparing to run a 4.28-second 40-yard dash — something Eric said he’s done before.

But two weeks before he was supposed to run at SMU’s Pro Day on March 24, Eric pulled his quad. He tried fighting through it at the Pro Day but couldn’t get through the full range of drills. The same night, he flew from Dallas to Toronto for the CFL National Combine. He interviewed with just about every team in the league, but sat out most of the drills. He still managed to compete in one-on-ones against wide receivers, though — Eric wanted to prove he’d be able to play through injury.

After the combine, Sutton returned to San Marcos to train with former Texas State and CFL defensive back Will Heyward for the next four weeks. He put on 15 pounds and started to look smooth again going through drills and sent video of himself to the teams he met with at the combine.

Eric was back in Dallas visiting his mom during the CFL Draft. He got a call from Toronto Argonauts head coach Ryan Dinwiddie. They were selecting him with the 53rd overall pick.

“He was telling me, you know, they’re proud to have me, they feel like they got the steal of the draft in me,” Sutton said. “So just hearing that from them and just hearing that they really believe in me is really all you can ask for.”

Both Patton and Sutton head out for their respective rookie minicamps on Wednesday. Both players have an end goal of finding a permanent goal in the NFL. They’re both excited to begin their journeys.

“Everything for me has been so hard to go get these last couple years, you know, I feel like I’ve had to fight for everything,” Patton said. “So for me to get that call that early — I was expecting to have to go fight and earn it. I still gotta go fight and earn it, but I wasn’t expecting to get a call that Saturday right after the draft. I was expecting to have to hear nothing for a little bit and wait it out, wait it out. But for me to get a call right after the draft, it meant a lot to me. And I’m the type of guy who, if you loyal to me, I’m gonna be loyal to you. That’s what the Colts told me, so I’m giving them everything I got.”

“The past couple of days have been real emotional for me. It still doesn’t feel real, you know, just looking back at how far I’ve come,” Sutton said. “My trials and tribulations and then everything I’ve had to go through just as far as my growth as a man, it’s really overwhelming. But it’s an amazing feeling being able to put tears of joy on my mom’s face and not tears of anger or frustration or disappointment. That’s a blessing to be able to do that.”