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The Tampa Bay Buccaneers needed a trade in the middle of a 38-3 blowout of the Chicago Bears on Sunday.
Bucs quarterback Tom Brady just threw his 600th career touchdown pass late in the first quarter, and star wide receiver Mike Evans routinely gave the ball to a fan. Once the feat came to light on the Bucs sideline, the team sent an equipment manager to negotiate with the fan, Byron Kennedy, according to the Tampa Bay Times’ Joey Knight.
Brady got the ball, and Kennedy anticipates receiving a hefty sum of Bucs memorabilia value. Bleacher Report put together a trade meme on Twitter that’s going viral amid the final week of NFL teams negotiating player trades before the Nov. 2 deadline.
“Fair deal,” Bleacher Report questioned.
Kennedy will receive another game ball, a $1,000 gift card to the Bucs team store, and a few things from Brady — including a helmet and a couple jerseys. All of it for Brady to get his 600th touchdown ball returned.
“It was really cool. I got it in a bag over there,” Brady told the media on Sunday. “But I don’t actually keep too many things so … in that circumstance, I just felt like that might be a good one to keep,” Brady “He’s going to get something nice in return. So we’ll get him a helmet or a couple jerseys or some other stuff. That was really cool of him to do that.”
Brady’s 600th Touchdown Ball Sky High in Value
Kennedy could have made $750,000 — or more — on Brady’s 600th touchdown ball according Yahoo! Sports’ Jeff Eisenberg, who received the figure from Ezra Levine of Collectible. Levin said the ball’s value is likely “closer to $750,000”, Eisenberg wrote. Ken Goldin of Goldin Auctions tweeted it “could easily go for $900,00” in comparing it to 500th-home run ball values.
“I knew how much it meant to Tom,” Kennedy told Knight, who reported that the Bucs gave Kennedy a different game ball, “and I was willing to trade.”
Kennedy’s Moment in the Sun
Kennedy recounted the moment to Knight as Evans surprised him with the ball after hauling in Brady’s 600th career touchdown pass.
“I was taking a video, and I switched it to my face, and then I went to switch it back to facing (the field), and when I did that, Mike Evans was running at me,” Kennedy told Knight. “Right when I looked down, he jumped up and gave me a hug and handed me the ball.”
Before that, Evans had looks of surprise and embarrassment on his face when sitting on the bench after he learned it was Brady’s 600th career touchdown.
“(Evans) goes, ‘Man, I’m sorry, man. I’ll get it,'” Brady told the media. “I said, ‘It’s all right. I’m sure they’ll find a way to get it back.'”
Bucs head coach Bruce Arians didn’t go as easy on Evans.
“I said, ‘You’re going to have to go give that guy two jerseys to get that ball back,'” Arians said in Sunday’s press conference. “It was like, ‘Either give him two of Tom’s, but you need to get that ball back for him.'”
The trade didn’t come easily for the Bucs, though.
“I was hesitant to give it back,” Kennedy admitted to Knight.
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