With D.J. Reed set to become an unrestricted free agent next week, the New York Jets are about to have a hole at the cornerback position. While the Jets could re-sign the veteran cornerback, all signs point to Reed finding a new home.
Reed is not the only Jets cornerback preparing for free agency. Fifth-year man Brandin Echols will also be an unrestricted free agent when legal tampering opens on Monday afternoon.
Since being selected by the Jets as a sixth-round pick in the 2021 NFL draft, Echols has settled in as a backup cornerback for New York. In his career, Echols has played in 57 games with 19 starts. He has a knack for the big play, recording five interceptions (with two pick-sixes) across 1,380 career defensive snaps.
Simply asking the question, “Should the Jets re-sign Echols?” would be a waste of time. For the right price, anybody is worth having on the roster. A better question is whether the Jets should consider re-signing Echols as a penciled-in starter prior to the draft.
With too limited of a track record to demand a large contract, Echols will not command nearly as much money on the open market as a proven starter like Reed. Considering that Reed is likely to sign elsewhere and Echols will be less expensive, it’s worth pondering whether the Jets – who are seemingly aiming for an economical approach this offseason – could view Echols as their free agent solution for the starting cornerback spot across from Sauce Gardner.
While the Jets could aim higher and dish out big bucks for someone whose track record is similar to Reed’s, Echols offers the upside to provide better value. He may have untapped potential as a starter but will get paid as a backup.
Let’s dig into Echols’ profile to figure out how the Jets should approach him in free agency.
Rookie-year starter (2021)
With the Jets going for a youth movement during Robert Saleh’s first season, Echols started all 14 games in his rookie year. There were some positive flashes, but overall, Echols was a liability.
Teams attacked Echols often and found great success when doing so. Despite playing the 59th-most coverage snaps among cornerbacks (461), Echols allowed the 23rd-most yards (600). His rate of 1.30 yards allowed per cover snap ranked 81st out of 96 qualified cornerbacks.
Echols only allowed one touchdown compared to two interceptions, but his high rate of yardage allowed per cover snap was the basis of his 48.0 coverage grade at Pro Football Focus, which ranked 84th out of 92 qualifiers. Echols was also poor against the run, placing 90th with a 31.1 run defense grade.
Production as a backup (2022-24)
Echols’ struggles contributed to the Jets heavily prioritizing the cornerback position in the 2022 offseason. They added Reed in free agency and doubled down by taking Gardner with the fourth overall pick.
With Gardner, Reed, and Michael Carter II holding down the Jets’ top three cornerback spots over the next three seasons, Echols was relegated to the role of New York’s primary backup cornerback from 2022-24. Over this span, he played in 43 games with five starts, totaling 618 defensive snaps.
Since Echols only appeared sporadically over this span, it is worth analyzing the entire sample rather than breaking down his progress from year to year.
Echols’ yards-per-cover snap from 2022-24 was identical to the poor rate from his rookie year (1.30), as he allowed 514 yards on 395 coverage snaps. While his three interceptions over that sample size are impressive, they are outweighed by his five touchdowns allowed.
Yielding five touchdowns on just 395 coverage snaps is extremely problematic. Compare that to the man Echols would be replacing, Reed. Over his three seasons in New York, Reed allowed six touchdowns on 1,702 coverage snaps. At Echols’ rate of one touchdown every 79 coverage snaps, he’d project to allow 21.5 touchdowns over Reed’s sample size of reps, more than seven touchdowns per season. That is untenable for a starting corner.
Reed is a very good player, so he may be an unfair bar to measure Echols against, but even an average NFL cornerback is significantly ahead of Echols in this category. In 2024, the league-average rate for cornerbacks was one touchdown allowed every 148 coverage snaps, meaning Echols allowed a touchdown almost twice as frequently.
Echols’ tackling and run defense also continue to be poor.
Over his limited sample size of reps from 2022-24, Echols still managed to miss 15 tackles, giving him a missed tackle rate of 23.1%. The 2024 league average for cornerbacks was 13.8%. A rate of 23.1% would have been third-worst among cornerbacks to play at least 500 defensive snaps.
Against the run, Echols earned a composite 50.1 run defense grade over the past three seasons. That would have ranked 66th among the 82 cornerbacks to play at least 500 defensive snaps in 2024.
Above all, it’s important to keep this critical factor in mind: Echols is already 27 years old and will turn 28 in October. Reed is one year older than him. Echols feels like a young player with possible untapped potential because we have barely seen him play, but he was already 24 in his rookie year and now has four seasons under his belt. This is probably as good as he is ever going to be.
Not to mention, Echols is a character/availability risk due to his 2022 arrest for speeding and reckless driving, causing a horrifying crash that left the victim partially paralyzed and in need of spinal surgery. Echols got off easy with a one-game suspension and will surely be out much longer if he screws up again.
Should the Jets re-sign Echols as a starter?
By now, it’s safe to say that the answer is a resounding no: the Jets should not view Echols as a potential starter in free agency.
In fact, they would be wise to try and find an upgrade over him at the CB4 spot. Outside of getting pick-sixes off of Tua Tagovailoa, there is nothing he has excelled at in his NFL career. A handful of highlight-reel plays have boosted Echols’ reputation beyond his actual production.
The idea behind re-signing Echols would be to bet on projection at a cheap cost. However, the Jets already have better options for that role. They have two young corners on day-three rookie contracts in Qwan’tez Stiggers (23 years old) and Jarrick Bernard-Converse (24), who are each waiting for the chance to build on their training camp and preseason flashes. Their presence eliminates the Jets’ need for Echols.
In an ideal world, Aaron Glenn and Steve Wilks have already fallen in love with what they saw from the young corners’ film, prompting them to feel comfortable about saving money on the position in free agency. Then, capitalizing on the coaches’ confidence, either Stiggers or Bernard-Converse proves worthy of being an upgrade over Echols in the CB4 role. In an utterly perfect world, one stands out so strongly that they seize a starting spot on the cheap, while the other steps into the CB4 role.
That is the dream scenario, of course, but it encapsulates how championship contenders are built. Buying your way to quality at every position is unrealistic (as the Jets have learned firsthand over the past decade). To build a complete team, you need to fill in the gaps of the roster with as many players as possible whose production outweighs the investment put into them. That primarily occurs through the development of late draft picks on cheap contracts.
Even if the Jets’ new regime loves Stiggers and Bernard-Converse, it is worthwhile to go out and sign a reliable starting-level cornerback for insurance, as neither player has proven anything yet in the regular season. A cornerback room led by Gardner, Carter II, Stiggers, Bernard-Converse, and a solid veteran on a short-term deal is probably the wisest course of action if the Jets feel good about the youngsters as prospects. If not, the Jets can aim higher in free agency to raise the unit’s floor, perhaps attempting to reunite Glenn with Carlton Davis.
Echols lacks a role in the Jets’ cornerback picture. He is too old and has played too poorly to have legitimate upside, and is not experienced or productive enough to be considered valuable as either a placeholder starter or even a CB4.
Re-signing Echols for close to the league minimum to compete for a roster spot would be fine, but anything more would be an overestimation of Echols’ career body of work.
