Buccaneers Announce Compensation for Fan Who Gave Tom Brady's 600th Touchdown Ball Back to Team

By Brian Jones

The fan who gave Tom Brady's 600th touchdown ball back to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers just earned a big compensation from the team. As mentioned by Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times, Byron Kennedy is getting two signed jerseys and a helmet from Brady. He's also getting a signed jersey and game cleats from Mike Evans as well as a $1,000 credit at the team store. Kennedy also earned two seasons tickets for the remainder of this season as well as next season. Additionally, when Brady appeared on Monday Night Football ManningCast, he said he's also giving Kennedy a Bitcoin. 

"Byron lost all his leverage when he gave up the ball," Brady joked with the Manning brothers, per CBS Sports. "He should've held it. ... (But) I'm also giving him a Bitcoin, so at the end of the day, I think he's making out pretty well." The Bitcoin currency is valued at under $63,000. Kennedy spoke to the NFL Network about the touchdown ball and said he originally didn't want to give it back. 

"The [Buccaneers staffer] came up and basically said, 'Can we get the ball back?' And my first reaction was 'No,'" Kennedy said, per CBS Sports. "I told him, 'You can't have the ball back. I'd never gotten a football like this, this is the coolest thing ever. No.'" Kennedy then said he backtracked after learning that Brady wanted the ball back. 

"We went back and forth a little bit and he was basically saying, 'Tom Brady really wants the football,'" Kennedy explained. "Like I said earlier, you can't say no to Tom Brady. He's asking for his 600th touchdown football back, he's the one who earned it. I just got lucky and happened to be there at the right time."   

Kennedy got the ball because Evans gave it to him after soring the 600th touchdown. Evans didn't realize he caught a historic ball, which is why he's giving Kennedy a signed jersey and cleats. Brady is the first player in NFL history to throw for 600 touchdowns. He's also the NFL's all-time leader in passing yards and has won more Super Bowls (7) and Super Bowl MVPs (5) than any other player in league history. 

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