Former Colorado State star DeAndre Elliott was not selected in the 2016 NFL Draft. Instead, he had to wait until after the annual event to ink a deal with the Seattle Seahawks as an undrafted rookie free agent.
For Elliott, making what seemed to be a deep Seahawks roster was a long shot. But the young man was driven to succeed by a promise he made to his mother as a four-year-old child.
See, Elliott and his family never had the financial means to own their own home when he was growing up. This made it all that much more special when Elliott fulfilled his promise to buy her a house.
“I cried for two days straight,” his mom said as she moved their family into the new house, via the Coloradoan.
For Elliott, this wasn’t one of your run-of-the-mill promises, either. He didn’t just promise to buy his mother a house as a young child. Instead, said promise came in the form of an IOU he dropped in a jar that contained loose change.
It also wasn’t the equivalent of a high-round pick setting his family up. An undrafted free agent, Elliott played under a $450,000 salary last season. There’s no long-term commitment on the Seahawks’ part. And he played sparingly in 13 games as a rookie last season.
Nonetheless, the 24-year-old defensive back from Texas figured it would be a good investment for his mother, his father and his two younger sisters.
Good for him.