Brandin Echols content being the ‘other’ new Steeler facing his old teammates with Jets

About two dozen reporters gathered in a semicircle in the Pittsburgh Steelers’ locker room on Wednesday, in large part to pepper Aaron Rodgers with questions about facing his former team in Sunday’s season opener.

Meanwhile, just a few feet away Brandin Echols sat alone at his locker. Echols, too, was signed as a free agent this spring after playing the most recent multiple seasons for the New York Jets. A defensive back, Echols spent his first four seasons with them.

Simultaneously while Rodgers was playing coy and declined to acknowledge that facing his former team carried any extra weight, Echols was more uninhibited in expressing his emotions.

“I’ve been waiting on this game since they first dropped the schedule,” Echols said. “No doubt, it’s going to be exciting for me personally.”

Echols signed a two-year, $6 million contract with the Steelers in March. A sixth-round pick of New York in 2021, he played in 57 games with 19 starts, five interceptions, two “pick sixes” and 16 passes defended over his time with the Jets.

“I’ve most definitely got some good memories,” Echols said of his New York tenure. “It had its ups and downs, but the good outweighed the bad anytime for me.“

Like Rodgers, Echols gets to get any awkwardness associated with facing his former team out of the way quickly. Unlike Rodgers, Echols is not a four-time NFL MVP award winner nor a 21-year veteran nor one of the sport’s most recognizable players.

But Echols carved out a role for himself during training camp and the preseason, a role that figures to shift from week to week and opponent to opponent. One of the more versatile members of what is an overall versatile corps of Steelers defensive backs, Echols will line up some in the slot/nickel, serve a reserve role as an outside corner and could see some playing time in a dime package.

Echols said coordination isn’t and won’t be an issue for a Steelers secondary that has a bevy of new faces after struggling with its communication at the end of last season.

“That’s what we practiced all summer, all camp, guys moving around and doing different things,” Echols said. “So now it’s time for us to just put it on display.”