Just a Friendly Reminder – Tre Brown is Good
The Seahawks have a promising pair of rookie cornerbacks, but don’t forget second-year corner Tre Brown who is practicing coming off a season ending injury after showing exciting potential.
In 2021, the Seattle Seahawks had limited draft capital with only three selections. They used one of those picks on Oklahoma cornerback Tre Brown in the fourth round – a player who deviated from the usual size/length preferences of Pete Carroll and John Schneider at 5-10 185lbs. Brown could thank DJ Reed for expanding Seattle’s horizons a bit on what type of corner can succeed in their system.
Then again, maybe they just watched the tape. Brown was a beast in the pass-happy Big 12.
In training camp, Brown climbed up the depth chart and was just beginning to earn starting reps – and the praise of Pete Carroll – when he suffered a knee injury. Brown started the season on injured reserve and didn’t see action until Week 6 against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday Night Football. It didn’t take him long to make his presence known.
Brown also had a key tackle on 3rd down in overtime to force a punt. Seattle couldn’t capitalize, but the rookie’s performance didn’t go unnoticed.
This wasn’t the only game where Brown impressed. He broke up a 4th down pass against Aaron Rodgers in Lambeau Field, showing great instincts and quickness to pull the trigger when breaking on the ball.
It was looking like a fourth-round steal for the Seahawks as Brown worked his way into the starting lineup across DJ Reed and continued to hold down receivers on his side of the field.
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Unfortunately, this feel-good story hit a roadblock in Week 11 when Brown ruptured his patellar tendon against the Arizona Cardinals. Any knee injury is bad, but patellar tendon injuries are particularly worrisome. They can take a long time to recover from and it’s always a question whether or not a player will regain his former explosiveness.
It’s been a slow recovery process for Brown, beginning this season on the PUP list. Now, nearly a year out from his surgery, Brown is full go at practice. That’s awesome news for any Seahawks fan since he bolsters an already formidable DB room.
Rookie phenom Tariq Woolen – fresh off his NFL Defensive Rookie of the Month Award for October – is entrenched at one CB spot. At the opposite outside corner spot is journeyman Mike Jackson who is surprising everyone with his physical play. The other rookie cornerback Coby Bryant has been steadily improving at the nickel position despite never playing there before. Artie Burns and Justin Coleman are also waiting in the wings. Seattle felt good enough about its depth in the corner room that former starter Sidney Jones was released. The position feels stacked.
Still, Brown flashed enough talent last season to believe that he could play his way into the lineup sooner rather than later. He’ll likely need to unseat Mike Jackson to make that a reality, which won’t be easy given Jackson’s “thrilling” play as of late.
The more interesting scenario to me would be to also work Brown in at nickel to have the potential future of Woolen and Bryant on the outside with Brown at nickel. That likely wouldn’t happen in 2022 but could be a possibility for 2023. Brown, like Bryant, played outside exclusively in college. Coby has adapted to playing the slot so maybe Brown could as well considering he has a good size and quickness profile for the position to deal with the (usually) smaller and quicker slot receivers. In fact, Bryant has better size for the outside at 6-1 193 lbs and was the Jim Thorpe award winner as the nation’s top defensive back last season at Cincinnati playing on the boundary so it might make sense to shift him back outside and put Brown in at nickel.
No matter where he eventually plays, Tre Brown showed last year that his performance in college wasn’t a fluke. He’s got enough skill to be an impact player at the NFL level. Now that he’s fully recovered from injury, Brown will need to once again climb up the depth chart to crack the starting lineup – and I wouldn’t bet against him reminding us just how good he is.