New York Jets draft Kentucky star Brandin Echols in sixth round
Brandin Echols was a steady contributor for the University of Kentucky over the last two seasons. That, combined with some impressive pro-day numbers, helped vault him up draft boards.
The New York Jets selected Echols 200th overall in the sixth round of the 2021 NFL Draft. He was the fourth Wildcat selected in this year’s draft, following Jamin Davis (19th overall to Washington), Kelvin Joseph (44th overall to Dallas) and Quinton Bohanna, drafted eight picks earlier in the sixth round by Dallas.
He was the third cornerback New York drafted on Saturday.
Echols last season had 54 total tackles (39 unassisted), fourth-most for the Wildcats. He also had an interception and two pass break-ups as part of a secondary that continued to be among the nation’s finest; Kentucky led the Southeastern Conference allowing 224.6 passing yards per game and was fourth in the league with 1.6 passing touchdowns allowed per game.
A two-year starter for the Wildcats, Echols was perceived by most as a day-three draftee but posted a 40-yard dash time (4.34 seconds) that matched that of LSU receiver Ja’Marr Chase, drafted fifth overall by the Cincinnati Bengals, and that was tied for the fourth-best time among any NFL Combine invitee. Echols was one of three Kentucky players in the draft that posted an “athleticism score” of 99 in the rankings shared by NFL’s Next Gen Stats, which tracks real-time location, speed and acceleration of NFL players.
Relative Athletic Scores, a site that uses metrics-based data to create an athletic “score” (up to 10) for players relative to their position, was high on Echols. His score of 9.15 was third-highest among all Kentucky players in the draft (behind linebacker Jamin Davis, 9.94, and offensive tackle Landon Young, 9.18). It was slightly higher than Joseph (9.02), and the 14th best mark among all cornerbacks rated.
Echols was invited to the East-West Shrine Bowl and the Hula Bowl. Ahead of UK’s pro day, Echols said he wished he’d been able to produce more on the field for Kentucky in 2020, but that he was gonna let his performance during the events tested speak for themselves.
“I always had to take that extra route,” Echols said. “I always had to do that extra little thing. I’ve always had that chip on my shoulder ‘cause people want to overlook me for some reason.”
Echols came to UK by way of Northwest Mississippi Community College, where he was a second-team All-American in the junior-college ranks. He arrived there as a wide receiver but converted to defensive back, and became a three-star recruit after two years at NWCC.
He became the fourth defensive back from Kentucky drafted during head coach Mark Stoops’ tenure, following Joseph in this year’s draft (44th overall to the Dallas Cowboys) and Lonnie Johnson (54th, Houston Texans) and Mike Edwards (99th, Tampa Bay Buccaneers) in 2019. Before 2019, Kentucky had only two defensive backs — Winston Guy (2012, sixth round) and Trevard Lindley (2010, fourth round) drafted in the last 20 years.
“It’s a real good look, especially with all the talent we got coming back next year and the incoming talent we got,” Echols said. “Kentucky’s puttin’ in a lot of DBs.”
This story was originally published May 1, 2021 at 4:27 PM.
