University of Maine All-Coastal Athletic Association first team linebacker Christian Thomas is currently the only CAA player to either be draf. ted or signed to an undrafted free agent contract with a National Football League team this offseason.
Thomas recently signed with the Las Vegas Raiders and was one of 36 Football Championship Subdivision players who signed a UDFA with an NFL team.
Former Albany cornerback KC Ezioumume signed a UDFA contract with Chicago Bears, but he transferred from Albany and played for Football Bowl Subdivision team Tulane University this past season.
Football Bowl Subdivision schools have more scholarships and financial resources than FBS institutions.
Two University of Rhode Island stars, offensive linemen Thomas Buxton and linebacker A.J. Pena, were the only CAA players among 44 FCS players to earn rookie mini-camp invitations, with Indianapolis and Baltimore, respectively.
Former Scarborough High School football and track standout Jayden Flaker signed a UDFA deal with the Buffalo Bills. Flaker, a linebacker, spent the past two seasons playing for FBS team Memphis after playing two years at North Carolina Central from the FCS.
Two other former UMaine players have signed new NFL deals.
Six-time Pro Bowl fullback Pat Ricard has signed a two-year, $7,630,000 deal with the New York Giants after spending his first nine seasons with the Baltimore Ravens, and running back Zavier Scott is returning to the Minnesota Vikings on a one-year deal worth $1,005,000.
Ricard, a former UMaine All-CAA defensive lineman, has joined former long-time Ravens head coach John Harbaugh with the Giants. Harbaugh was fired by the Ravens in January and then became the Giants new head coach.
Thomas had a team-high 120 tackles this past season which was second most in the CAA behind Luke Banbury’s 137 for William and Mary (Virginia).
It tied Thomas for seventh in the country in tackles and in tackles per game (10) among players at 126 FCS schools.
It is the 11th most in a single season in program history.
He also led the team in tackles for lost yards with 12 and he was second in the team in sacks with five.
The 6-foot-3, 230-pound native of Norristown, Pennsylvania, had at least nine tackles in eight of UMaine’s 12 games and had a career-high 19 in a loss to Rhode Island.
The graduate student also had three pass break-ups, forced a fumble and recovered a fumble.
“He was relentless to the ball,” said UMaine head coach Jordan Stevens recently. “He finds a way to get to the ball. He has a tenacity and passion you can feel when he plays.”
Ricard, nicknamed ‘Pancake Pat’ because of his crunching blocks, had an injury-marred 2025 campaign in which he appeared in just 11 of the Ravens’ 17 games.
He carried the ball once for three yards and caught one pass for two yards.
Ricard has caught 49 passes for 323 yards, 16 first downs and seven touchdowns in 122 career regular season games and four in three playoff games with two picking up first downs.
He has run the ball 11 times for 22 yards and eight first downs during the regular season but has not run the ball in the postseason.
Scott, an All-CAA running back/wide receiver at UMaine, saw his first NFL action for the Vikings last season and carried the ball 32 times for 114 yards in 16 games, an average of 3.6 yards per carry, while making 14 receptions for 98 yards and a TD. He had a career-high six catches for 43 yards and a touchdown in a 24-21 loss to Pittsburgh.
The six-foot-one, 221-pound Scott is 26 years old.
Flaker had 15 tackles in 11 games for Memphis this past season. He forced two fumbles, recovered one and had two quarterback hurries.
In 2023, when he was a sophomore at North Carolina Central, he led the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference in tackles with 85. He had 10 tackles for loss and 4.5 sacks.
