TAKE A SEAT
Jets CB gets one-game ban, ’22 crash could be reason: report
Jets cornerback Brandin Echols was suspended for one game Thursday, with the reason reportedly involving a violation of the league’s personal conduct policy.
It could be linked to a Florham Park crash near the Jets facility in April 2022, according to an NFL Network report.
Earlier this year, the 25-year-old cornerback entered a three-year pretrial intervention program following a charge for fourth-degree assault by auto, in addition to summonses for reckless driving, speeding, failure to wear a seat belt, an unsafe lane change and improper passing, according to a story from the Daily Record in March.
The April 22, 2022 crash left Stephen Gilberg “partially paralyzed” when Echols’ Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat, allegedly traveling at 84 mph five seconds before the crash, collided with Gilberg’s BMW X5, according to the Daily Record.
The impact allegedly caused Gilberg’s car to land in a marsh off the roadway, and the collision occurred two miles from the Jets facility in Florham Park, per the outlet.
It left Gilberg, who was driving his vehicle, with broken ribs and “no feeling or movement in both hands and his right leg that required spinal surgery,” according to the Daily Record, and during a hearing 10 months later in Morris County, Gilberg said that the crash and injuries will “forever haunt me.”
He was taken to Morristown Medical Center following the collision and had allegedly compiled medical bills that neared $1 million by March 2023, according to the outlet.
“While I’ve made certain strides physically, such as learning to walk again albeit not in the same way I used to, it’s the nerve damage and the pain you don’t see,” Gilberg said in the hearing, according to the Daily Record. “The physical things I will never be able to do and the psychological trauma I am living with every single day that will continue to impact the rest of my life.”
Echols entered the pretrial intervention program “voluntarily,” his attorney Mitch Schuster told the Daily Record in March, and the assault by auto charge — along with the handful of driving summons — will reportedly be dismissed once he completes the three-year requirements.
Per The Daily Record, Echols will “undergo various programs for rehabilitation and will be monitored by the courts” throughout the duration of his pretrial intervention program, in addition to reportedly having to pay Gilbert $1,200 per month in “restitution” until $54,460 is reached.
“Mr. Echols is not alleged to have been driving under the influence of any substances and there are no claims that Mr. Echols intended to hurt anyone,” Schuster told the Daily Record in a March statement. “Mr. Echols is deeply saddened that Mr. Gilberg suffered injuries as a result of the accident and wishes Mr. Gilberg a full and speedy recovery.”
The NFL announced Echols’ suspension earlier Thursday, but a reason wasn’t provided.
Echols, who played at Kentucky, was a sixthround pick in the 2021 draft and played 77 percent of the Jets’ defensive snaps his rookie season. Last year, he became one of the team’s special teams pieces — logging 62 percent of those snaps — when the Jets started Sauce Gardner and D.J. Reed at the corners. Echols started 14 games in 2021, but that number dipped to zero during his second season following the secondary additions.
During his rookie season, Echols became known as the cornerback who asked Tom Brady to autograph the ball Echols intercepted following the Jets’ January game against the Bucs.