NFL

Easley first NYC prospect to be drafted in 1st round in 28 years

Who says New York City is a basketball town?

The grass-roots football community had a reason to gloat Thursday night as Staten Island’s Dominique Easley became the first New York City product to be selected in the first round of the NFL Draft in 28 years.

The Patriots selected Easley, an injury-plagued yet impressive defensive tackle prospect out of Florida known for his rare combination of strength and explosiveness, with the 29th pick of the first round.

Despite tearing his right ACL and meniscus in September, costing him all but three games of his senior season, the 6-foot-1, 288-pound Easley became the city’s first opening-round selection since Bayside running back Ronnie Harmon went to the Bills with the 16th-overall pick in the 1986 draft.

“We were going pretty crazy in the house,” his father, David Easley Sr., said in a phone interview. “It’s unbelievable. We’re so ecstatic.”

“They’re going to be extremely, extremely satisfied with this pick they just made.”

Easley, of Curtis High School on Staten Island, was a preseason First-Team All-SEC selection entering his senior season and was projected to be a mid-first-round pick. Then the injuries hit, and he attacked the rehabilitation process relentlessly. In December, he moved to Boca Raton, Fla., to work at XPE Sports, a sports training center. It got him ready for his pro day in Gainesville, Fla., where he showed teams his surgically repaired knee was healing fast.

Seventeen teams attended, including the Patriots, who were obviously pleased with what they saw. After a pre-draft visit, they gambled on a player who has suffered two serious knee injuries.

“I wasn’t paying attention [to where I would be picked], I was just waiting for my dream to come true,” Easley said. “I’m healthy, I’m just trying to get out there and do whatever coach Belichick wants me to do.”

“I don’t know anyone who’s in professional sports,” Easley Sr. said. “For the first person to know in professional sports to be your son is an unexplainable feeling. Words cannot explain it.”

Easley was a late-bloomer, a basketball player growing up because he was too big to play Pop Warner football. An All-American at Curtis High School on Staten Island, Easley led the Warriors to a pair of city championships, was rated as the No. 2 recruit in the country and was the Under-Armour All-American Game Defensive MVP.

He had more than 30 scholarship offers out of high school, starting a recent trend of All-American football players from the city, which is better known for its basketball prospects.

“I wouldn’t say I’m surprised as much as excited,” said Pete Gambardella, Easley’s high school coach. “It shows a lot about his personality. He was as determined as it gets, back when he started [playing football] in high school. When he got something in his head, he was going to get it done.

“He’s done a lot for New York City and I think he’s really helped and shown we have some good football players here. It’s something everybody dreams of when you’re coaching. It’s a pretty nice day, I’m happy for him, I’m happy for his son and his mother and his uncle and his brother — people who have always been there for him.

“It’s a good day.”