FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- New England Patriots rookie Brandon King spent part of his Christmas Eve in a most unique way. He went to a local Target, bought some gift cards and surprised shoppers with unexpected financial help for the holidays.

His gesture was shared by one recipient on social media, and I asked him about it Wednesday.

"Even though I'm here, I've been in another situation before where I understand, when you go through Christmas, a lot of families have to take away money from bills and stuff they have to pay just to help out [buying presents] for the kids," King explained. "It was pretty much a random thing. If we saw someone shopping, I just introduced myself and decided I was going to help them out. I was just trying to give back a little bit for the holidays."

King, 22, grew up in Alabaster, Alabama. He played at Auburn before signing with the Patriots as an undrafted free agent on May 8. After opening the year on the practice squad, he was promoted to the active roster on Oct. 10 and is currently second on the team with 12 special-teams tackles.

"I just wanted to look for families that looked like they were working, and people who were really thinking about what they wanted to get instead of just throwing stuff in the bucket," King said. "There was one lady I passed by, she was looking at speakers for like five minutes and didn't move, so I just decided to walk up to her.

"It was kind of cool seeing different people's reactions when you go up to them at first. They were like, 'I don't know who this guy is.' And then it's like, 'Oh, this guy plays for the Patriots.' And finally, 'This guy is giving me money.'

"It was just a blessing to me to see how happy I could make someone."

King said he went with teammate Darius Fleming with the intention of doing it once.

He ultimately gave out three or four gift cards.