The Truth About Bachelor Clayton Echard's Football Career

Last week, Variety confirmed that former football tight end Clayton Echard would be searching for his love match as the lead on the 26th season of "The Bachelor." What makes this choice especially interesting is the fact that Bachelor Nation has not even met the former football player yet. According to The Sun, Echard is set to appear in Michelle Young's season of "The Bachelorette," which will premiere in October.

"Clayton stood out right off the bat," a source told Us Weekly. "Producers ended up going with him because they believed he was the best fit for the role. They wanted to switch things up and go with someone new and someone who hasn't been in the spotlight yet." For his part, Echard himself admitted that a few butterflies had cropped up in his stomach since he heard the news. "I'm excited. I'm also very, very nervous," Clayton told a crowd, according to a video obtained by local news station Fox 2 Now. "I'm looking to find my person."

Given the fact that we have yet to be formally introduced to Echard, only a few things are actually known about the newest addition to Bachelor Nation.

Due to the fact that Clayton Echard hasn't spent much time in the spotlight, not much is known about the future "Bachelor" lead. 

According to Echard's LinkedIn profile, he currently works as a sales representative for Stryker Orthopaedics in Columbia, Missouri. He is also working to obtain a master's degree in Business Administration at Southeast Missouri State University. "When I am not spending time in the OR, working on my MBA and/or working out, I enjoy hiking and biking on the nature trails around the Columbia area," he wrote on his profile.

Perhaps the largest component of Echard's career thus far has been his time as a football player for the University of Missouri and the Seattle Seahawks. He played as a tight end for the University of Missouri from 2011 to 2015 and spent the NFL preseason with the Seattle Seahawks as a free agent in 2016. 

"After outperforming four other tight ends on a tryout basis with the Seattle Seahawks, I signed on as a free agent," Echard said of his time with the team (via LinkedIn). "While there, I practiced daily with the team and played in four preseason games. I made it past the first round of cuts, however, I was not able to make the final roster. Nonetheless, it was a unique experience that I was blessed to be a part of." Hopefully, he'll share a similar sentiment about his time as "The Bachelor"!