‘I want to be an NFL player’: Local youth football players excited for draft in Kansas City

By Peyton Headlee

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    KEARNEY, Missouri (KMBC) — Many of the players heading into the draft have been dreaming about making it to the NFL since they were kids.

Some local players are just beginning that journey.

On an empty soccer field in Kearney, Missouri, you’ll find the New England Patriots running routes and pulling flags. Not *those* Patriots, but instead a team of local elementary school boys.

For a team of 5-, 6-, and 7-year-olds, practice is a lot of fun. Each player has their favorite part.

“I love it,” 6-year-old Carson Maidment said. “We run a lot.”

“Scoring touchdowns,” 5-year-old Aiden Minta said. “I scored by smoking four people out.”

“I like pulling flags,” 6-year-old Kannon Freeman said. “I think it’s a lot of fun, and I love football.”

For some of the smallest players, it is exciting to know some of the biggest names in football are coming to Kansas City.

We asked all of the players if they knew what the NFL draft was.

“Yes, I’m going to it,” Oliver Thompson said. “So, people get drafted to the teams, and stuff, and they sign up to go to the teams, and that’s all I know about the NFL draft.”

“I know part of it. People get drafted to a different team,” 7-year-old Kevin Mitchell said.

For others, it is a lesson they are still waiting to learn. Even if they don’t quite get it, it’s a stage they plan to be on one day.

“I want to be an NFL player,” Freeman said. “I want to play what Nick Bolton does.”

“A football player,” Thompson said. “Because the NFL is like, they’re so good at football.”

These young football stars plan to keep practicing until they make it. So even if their skills aren’t quite draft level yet, their energy and commitment sure are.

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