Tom Brady became the first quarterback in NFL history to throw 600 career touchdown passes on Sunday, after the seven-time Super Bowl Champion threw a nine-yard strike to Mike Evans late in the first quarter of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ 38-3 win over the Chicago Bears.
During his celebration, Evans, who was seemingly unaware of the milestone TD, gave the ball to a fan who was sitting in the front row of the end zone. A short while later, a Bucs staffer approached the fan, 29-year-old Byron Kennedy, in an attempt to get the ball back.
Kennedy relented, returning the ball to Brady in exchange for a replacement game ball and a $1,000 gift card to the Bucs’ team store, per CBS Sports.
Of course, the ball would’ve been worth far more on the open market. Ken Goldin, the founder of Goldin Auctions, tweeted that the ball could have fetched about $500,000 at minimum.
“Given how historic this ball is as the first 600th TD in NFL history, I’d estimate this ball to be worth a minimum of $500,000 (and possibly much more),” he wrote.
After the game, Brady called Kennedy’s gesture “pretty cool.”
“He’s going to get something nice in return, so we’ll get him a helmet or a couple of jerseys or some other stuff,” Brady told reporters. “It was really cool of (Kennedy) to do that.”
Meanwhile, Kennedy, while speaking with NFL Network’s Andrew Siciliano on Monday, offered up a different request: “Renegotiate, no, but play a round of golf as repayment? That’d be pretty cool,” he said.
Check out some of the best Twitter reactions to the fan who gave back Brady’s milestone TD ball.
