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Jake Butt has had an incredible journey, and one might say, the road less traveled.
It’s certainly not how he would have drawn it up. As an emerging tight end for Michigan football, Butt tore his ACL in spring ball before his sophomore season, but he came back better than ever, winning the coveted Mackey Award his senior year. However, that year ended in heartbreak, as just before halftime in the Capital One Orange Bowl, he tore his ACL again. He would have likely been an early-round pick, but with his injury, he fell all the way to the first pick in the fifth-round of the 2017 NFL Draft.
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He sat out the 2017 season, but came back poised to make an impact in 2018 — before tearing his ACL — again — in practice during a non-contact drill. The injury kept him out for the rest of that season as well as the entirety of 2019.
But now, he’s healthy and getting some playing time as a reserve for the team that drafted and believed in him. And his career trajectory is something the G.O.A.T. has paid attention to.
After the Denver Broncos and Tampa Bay Buccaneers faced off in Denver, Tom Brady checked in on the fellow Michigan alum, asking about his health and sharing some enthusiasm for seeing the fellow former Wolverine out on the field. The official Broncos Twitter account shared video of the exchange.
Watch below:
.@UMichFootball respect. ✊@JakeButtTE 🤝 @TomBrady pic.twitter.com/LjPxQkQKYY
— Denver Broncos (@Broncos) September 28, 2020
Butt and Brady have crossed paths twice before in Ann Arbor. Brady visited the team before the 2013 season — Butt’s freshman year — and again in 2016 when he was a senior.