Brandin Echols keeps impressing in New York

by:Eric Decker•08/15/21•

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To be honest, we should’ve totally seen this coming from Brandin Echols

Echols has been shining so far this summer in Florham Park with the Jets. The 200th overall pick quickly went from an unknown commodity who was taken solely because of his freak athletic ability to a legitimate contender for a CB2 position in his rookie year.

Notebook from #Jets practice #8. The cornerback battle is heating up. Brandin Echols and Isaiah Dunn have run with the 1s recently. More observations with the running game and receivers and oh yeah how Zach Wilson did today …. https://t.co/arrBopRXdP
— DJ Bien-Aime (@Djbienaime) August 5, 2021

Echols making strides in training camp

Echols has always shown the tools needed in order to make an impact in the NFL. He had 108 tackles in 24 games for the ‘Cats, that doesn’t just happen by accident. It’s representation of someone who can spot the football while in coverage, change momentum, and want to be the first one to make a tackle. He may have just gotten overlooked because of the lack of interceptions, which he only had one.

The lack of production in the passing game might’ve impacted Echols as being under appreciated as a prospect. Meanwhile his pro day solidified that status. If someone runs a 4.36 and can jump 42.5 inches, you take him. NFL coaches often quote how they look for elite attributes in players during the later rounds, Echols has elite attributes.

Standout performers from Jets practice today:

Brandin Echols four PBUs and pick-6

Corey Davis being a security blanket and catching TDs

Bryce Hall having sticky coverage and forcing some INCs

Jamien Sherwood caught an interception.
— DJ Bien-Aime (@Djbienaime) August 11, 2021

Fortunate for Echols too, he got drafted into a situation where he legitimately can battle for playing time on day one. The Jets are full of first round talents that fell to the back-end of the draft. Bless Austin, a sixth-round draft pick after tearing his knee a couple times at Rutgers is the consensus No. 1 in New York. Bryce Hall (not the TikTok guy who keeps losing fights) was a fifth-round pick last year after losing a season to an ankle injury at Virginia.

Echols has had more pick-6’s in training camp than he did interceptions in all of his time at Kentucky. He’s adjusting on the fly at an absurdly fast pace given what was expected of him. Because of that, he was given ample opportunity to show himself during the first preseason game against the Giants on Saturday night.

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Echols Impressive in his first NFL action

Brandin Echols got in with some of the first team defense still out there at the beginning of the second quarter and looked pretty comfortable. Now, take it with a grain of salt, he was up against quarterback masterminds Mike Glennon and Clayton Thorson during his first taste of the league.

In all the game wasn’t that eventful for Echols stats wise, ending up with one tackle and one pass defense. But oh boy did that pass defense get everyone irrationally excited over the 200th pick in the draft. It was a one-on-one heave on a fly route down the field but it exemplified everything attractive about Echols as a prospect.

Rookie CB Brandin Echols just made a heckuva play. Clayton Thorson goes deep for Dante Pettis and Echols somehow chases him down with the ball in the air and breaks up the pass. Big-time speed. #jets
— Andy Vasquez (@andy_vasquez) August 15, 2021

If Echols keeps performing, there’s no doubt he is going to make a serious case to get playing time his rookie season. Personally as a Jets fan, I just want him on the field so I can see him do this again.