Tom Brady Signs Autograph For Jets Rookie Brandin Echols, Who Intercepted QB Before Bucs' Comeback Victory
BOSTON (CBS) -- The New York Jets almost beat the defending champs on Sunday. Almost. But as he has done time and time again during his career, Tom Brady broke the Jets' hearts.
But not all of them.
Immediately after the loss, Jets rookie cornerback Brandin Echols made a beeline for Brady with a special request. Echols had intercepted Brady just before halftime. And even though Brady had just completed a 93-yard game-winning drive right in the Jets' defense face, Echols wanted to memorialize the moment by getting Brady's John Hancock on the football he intercepted earlier in the game.
It was certainly a unique sight, but in a game where Antonio Brown left the field shirtless while pumping up the opposing team's fans, it wasn't the oddest event of the day.
Echols may feel a certain kinship with Brady, even though they have a 20-year age gap. While Brady was the 199th overall pick in the sixth round of the 2000 NFL Draft, Echols was the 200th overall pick in the sixth round of the 2021 NFL Draft. With Brady obviously being the biggest success story from the late rounds of the draft in NFL history, countless players selected in the final hours of the draft have leaned on Brady's story as a driver throughout their careers.
And while Echols -- or any player, for that matter -- would have a rather low chance of organizing a postgame jersey swap with Brady, it was a safer bet to secure the autograph, even if it was a bit of an unorthodox move.
