With the Seattle Seahawks, rookie Coby Bryant makes no secret of his admiration for NBA icon Kobe Bryant. Now the cornerback has also secured Kobe’s rookie back number.

Munich – Starting next season, the NFL will have one more illustrious name. Coby Bryant is the name of the rookie cornerback taken by the Seattle Seahawks in the fourth round of the draft. The name is no coincidence: The 23-year-old was named after NBA and Lakers icon Kobe Bryant.

And the footballer Bryant makes no secret of his admiration for the basketball player who died in a helicopter crash in 2020, even on his first NFL jersey. As Coby Bryant announced on his Instagram account, he will be wearing jersey number 8 for his first professional season. Just like Kobe Bryant, who wore the number from his first NBA season in 1996 until 2006 with the Lakers, before switching to the number 24.

Coby Bryant in college wore number 7 for years

For years, Coby Bryant wore number 7 on the Cincinnati Bearcats’ college team before switching to number 8 for the first time in the college semifinals earlier this year.

So now he gets that with the Seahawks, too. However, a quick switch to the number 24 is currently out of the question: Justin Coleman already wears that number in Seattle.