Rugby has been a part of Nate Ebner's life since he was 6 years old; now he has a shot to play the game on the world's biggest stage.
Tuesday, the safety announced he would be taking a leave of absence from the team to try out with the U.S. rugby national team, with the ultimate goal of playing in the summer Olympics in August.
It was a decision that may have been harder for the Bill Belichick and the Pats than it was for the 27-year-old.
"When it comes to my personal life it's something that I don't want to regret not trying to do, and I don't know that if I didn't try it that it wouldn't have been something that I would've strongly regretted," Ebner said via ProFootballTalk.com Wednesday.
"At the end of the day I'm kind of living with no regrets and it's something that was important to me and that's really all that it took to think about for me to kind of make that decision."
