Seahawks reporter says Brandon Browner would be a sub on current Seahawks squad
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| Brandon Browner, right, and Malcolm Butler during OTA's in May. (AP Photo/Stephan Savoia) |
Browner is a former Canadian Football League player, who made his NFL mark with the Seattle Seahawks the last three years. He flourished in his first year, but his second and third were marred by suspensions and injuries. As the Seahawks went onto to win the Super Bowl, Browner was not a forgotten man though, given a full playoff share even though he hadn’t played since week 8 of the regular season and during his time injured was suspended for marijuana use. This speaks volumes about Browner’s reputation in relation to how his teammates and coaches view him. Now as the NFL offseason ends Seahawks reporter Terry Blount has come out and said on this week's ESPN NFL Nation “SpreeCast” that if Browner had stayed in Seattle he wouldn’t be a starter.
ESPN:
"He's still an excellent player. He's a very good press coverage cornerback. However, if he was still in Seattle, he would not be starting over Byron Maxwell. Not even close. There was a point early last season, before Brandon got injured and before the suspension and all that stuff, where he actually got benched in a game because he was not playing very well.
"Now, I don't want people to think I'm down on Brandon Browner. I'm not. I think he's still a very good player. He's so big (6-foot-4, 221 pounds) and so physical, that he's basically like a strong safety playing cornerback. But he wouldn't be the starter here if he were here, and I don't know that he is quite as good as he was two years ago. Maybe he will be, especially with [Darrelle] Revis back there helping him too; that is a very good secondary now in New England. So I think he can help them without question, but I think it's wrong for people to think Seattle made a mistake for letting him go, because he was not going to start here had he stayed."
Browner is missing the first four games of the Patriots season for his suspension, a fact the Patriots were very aware of when they signed him. As far as him starting in Seattle or even starting for New England, does it matter?
Browner wasn’t the number one corner in Seattle, and he wasn’t brought to New England to be the number one corner, that job belongs to Darrelle Revis. As we have watched the Patriots secondary struggle in recent years, it has been more because of lack of depth than ineffective play by the top cornerbacks. Sure the smaller cornerbacks, Alfonzo Dennard (5’10’’), Kyle Arrington (5’11’’), and Logan Ryan (5’11’’) have gotten beaten up a bit by the likes of Cleveland’s Josh Gordon (7 catches, 151 yards) when Aqib Talib was on the sideline. But the Patriots stress playing as a unit and often play with three or four cornerbacks at a time, passing coverage from one to the next.
This unit play relies on depth and knowledge to allow for continued success. The Patriots lacked depth, evidenced each time Talib was off the field the last two seasons. Players in their roles is how Patriots defense has always worked best, and that will continue to be the case. Revis and Browner being on the field, at the same time, on the outside, is certainly one option for the Patriots, and will likely be the case when the Pats face a team like the Bears who lineup two big receivers, Brandon Marshall and Alshon Jeffrey. But when the second receiver is short and fast look for Dennard to be outside, with Browner sliding inside to help with stopping the run and tight end coverages.
In the end, it will come down to matchups and performance, like it always does with Belichick. The idea of labeling players “starters” or “subs” doesn’t interest him because he uses the whole roster. Browner knew that coming in, has dings against him already because of his past, and so being called a "sub" likely doesn't bother him. His OTA performance is evidence of his willingness to prove himself as a team player who wants to put his past behind him any way he can.
-Sully
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