FaZe Banks joins New England Patriots to welcome 2020 draft picks

The NFL’s New England Patriots officially recruited FaZe Clan owner and lifelong Pats fan Ricky ‘Banks’ Banks to welcome in their picks in the 2020 draft.

FaZe Clan already had a relationship with the NFL with a Draft-a-thon collaboration, that saw them working on content surrounding the Draft as well as a line of FaZe Clan x NFL merchandise.

Banks takes it further though, being picked up by his team to bring in the new season, welcome the new recruits, and explain why the Patriots mean so much to him.

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Posting shortly after the Draft got underway, the Patriots explained that Banks has “been a fan since day one,” and “has a message for the newest members of the squad.”

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In the video message, Banks explains what the team means to him, how he came to be a fan, and his experience taking his family to the 2019 Super Bowl, in which New England beat the Los Angeles Rams.

Finally, he left a message to whoever New England recruits, simply saying “welcome home, baby,” and urging any new Draft picks to “hit [him] up,” likely growing a rapport with them like he somehow seems to have with New England legend Tom Brady.

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In the message, Banks also addresses how esports and FaZe themselves are doing compared to the Patriots. He said: “To imagine that there’s kids out there that feel the same way about FaZe, and maybe about me, as I do about the Patriots, is actually f**king crazy. It gets me emotional just talking about it.”

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On the opening night of the 2020 NFL Draft, New England actually traded out their first-round pick to the Los Angeles Chargers, meaning that, at the time of writing, the Patriots don’t have any new recruits – but Banks will get to celebrate on Day 2 when his team picks up a few players, instead.

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Many professional athletes are using the ongoing global crisis to actually get involved with the gaming and esports world – including the likes of Super Bowl winners Patrick Mahomes and Tyreek Hill mocking CoD pro Slacked over his Warzone skills.

So while the Patriots aren’t the first to dip their hands in the gaming sphere, this is definitely huge for Banks – and perhaps a sign of more to come.