Brandon Browner

[Smellyman]

Blame the Broncos. They're the ones that waived him

 

[MizzouHawkGal]

How many teams can say that they have an enforcer at cornerback?

Any decent team pre-1980ish. And San Francisco with Ronnie Lott. Browner is a virtual twin to him but faster. It's silly.

Pittsburgh and Oakland come to mind especially given it was because of their physical play that we have today's version of football. Powder Puff in my opinion.

The LoB is a throwback to 1970-80's football before the Mel Blount rules. Especially Browner and Kam and to a lesser degree Sherman. Earl? He is just elite no matter what rules are in play.

 

[MizzouHawkGal]

Blame the Broncos. They're the ones that waived him

This also.

 

[OreIdahawk]

I agree. Read the thread about Walter Thurmond. It was a full on boiling pot of ridiculousness until the first preseason game happened. Then it was like "Oh, well keep Browner around until next year when Walter is fully back to his better than Richard Sherman form."

The team has the best cornerback tandem that it has had since Dave Brown and Terry Taylor were back there and everybody can't get rid of Browner fast enough. Amazing. He isn't as fast as Thurmond. Who cares? He's as much of an "intangibles" player as you will find and the guy is hungry for the ball, for contact, for victory. What more do you want? The combo of BB and Sherm is deadly.

+1000

I remember literally being pissed at the under appreciation of Browner on that thread. It just shows how much those people know about football.

I never knew how many idiot Seahawks fans there were before I joined this site. But every team has "those guys" so I should have expected it.

P.S. They make up a very small percentage of the people on here so don't anyone get all butt hurt.

 

[themunn]

I've said it time and time again but while everyone is quick to mention the fact that Richard Sherman is a shutdown corner, I much prefer watching the smackdown corner that is Brandon Browner

 

[billio155]

Man, I could watch that video of BB taking down Jennings all day long. There is not another corner back in the league that comes close to the physicality he brings to the position. He has his issues, but he is a game changer and an enforcer. We are spoiled to have him on our team.

 

[Thunderhawk]

My favorite player on the team right now and someone I would be terrified to meet in real life. That is a bad, bad man. Can't remember another Seahawk ever playing with that level of ferocity and intensity - even Easley.

 

[TDOTSEAHAWK]

No one needs to apologize but certainly the anti-Browner/pro-Thurmond rhetoric bordered on absurd. As an example, I was called out for being a homer and not accepting the reality that Thurmond is an All-Pro and Browner is second rate and needs to be replaced as soon as possible.

This was especially odd considering the debate should have really focused on Thurmond vs Winfield.

 

[Largent80]

Browner is going to have a great season. Did you see him slam that dude out on the sideline? Just basically picked him up slammed him down. Awesome stuff.

 

[Jazzhawk]

How many teams can say that they have an enforcer at cornerback?

Any decent team pre-1980ish. And San Francisco with Ronnie Lott. Browner is a virtual twin to him but faster. It's silly.

Except Lott was a Safety.

 

[mikeak]

Yes, you can replace him with another corner but you cannot replace the sheer impact his physical nature has on a game. His hits make a huge difference, .

This is why a person can get cut by several NFL teams and still be a pro-bowler in waiting. If he doesn't get to play quite a bit of time in a real game that matters then this part of his game cannot be properly displayed....

 

[rideaducati]

If you go back to the offseason prior to Browner starting and you'll see a BUNCH of people clamoring for the Seahawks to sign free agent corners. It was doom and gloom because the Seahawk secondary was going to be the worst ever. Then, when they got rid of the awful little guy Josh Wilson, it was even worse for the doom and gloomers. EVERYONE was coming up with names the Seahawks NEEDED to trade for immediately. It was rather amusing to watch. It's even more fun to go back and see the stories and comments about this subject. I have yet to see the "Boy, was I wrong" articles.

 

[Hawks46]

Browner just keeps getting better and better. He'll be 30 next season, he's not the kind of guy you'd expect to age with grace, and I'm sure he won't come cheap, but jeez. The guy just forces turnovers. And you know how Pete feels about turnovers. Gonna be very interesting to see how Seattle handles that situation, especially if Browner ends up getting big offers from other teams.

Well it makes sense. He got cut by Denver before he could get meaningful playing time in the NFL. Then he went to the CFL and got better, but it's obviously not the NFL. When he came back, it was pretty much a rookie season again. Even though he's older, there's nothing to say he won't improve or already has hit his ceiling. From what I've read from TC, Browner is one of the guys that practices the hardest, the quote I read was "he's a demon at practice". If you work that hard in the offseason, chances are you'll get better, and decline more slowly.

Speaking of the CFL....any idea if you take less punishment up there, and therefore not lose as much as you get older? Wondering if Browner will still be good into his mid 30's. He's got at least 2-3 really good years left....CB's don't fall off the cliff like RB's do at 30.

Scary enough, same thing goes for Sherman. He's had 1 1/2 years of starting time under his belt, at a position he didn't play 4 years in college. There's nothing to say he won't get better.

 

[MontanaHawk05]

I still don't particularly care what you people thought of me criticizing Browner. (It IS me that many of you are thinking of, though many of you are too polite to name names.) I don't think it was ever strange to be skeptical about a CFL star in his late twenties whose first year back in the NFL only confirmed his reputation of penalty-drawing play. 99% of guys like that don't improve into perennial Pro Bowlers. It's also not strange to be skeptical of turnovers as a reliable, consistent stat.

The Denver game was probably the best, most technically sound game of Browner's career. He's never covered that well. He probably had extra motivation, playing as he was against the team that cut him and denied him his first NFL shot. But he played great. If he keeps it up, Seattle ends up in a very good position: having to decide between two CB's who are potential Pro Bowl material in their own different ways. Criticism of Thurmond is still focused mostly on his health and not on his talent. But hey, if Browner can somehow keep manufacturing big plays, he becomes a player template unto himself. There's no arguing with that talent.

So PC/JS continue their streak of making most NFL paradigms and projections look like foolishness. If Browner remains on this tier, I'll be eating crow. (Just try not to shove my face into the dish, OP. That's a douchebag tactic. The honest crow-eaters will do so on their own; the dishonest ones won't admit to being wrong no matter what you say.)

 

[TwistedHusky]

Montana,

I am not calling out one person. Not even sure if it matters, frankly I am sure we all are happy to be wrong about a player if we are predicting them failing.

I myself was sure we were wasting time starting a rookie QB when rookie QBs don't EVER win in the playoffs, or often even go. And I was sure we had such a good defense that we would be squandering wins with a rookie QB. Yep, I was against starting Wilson - so not sure I can rub it in your face....I was a 100x more wrong.

BUT Browner has busted tail for us, and it drove me nuts to see so many people up in arms about him getting a well deserved raise - even though I was really really hoping we had extended him instead. I still think that is going to bite us in the butt almost as badly as the not resigning Hutch thing did.

When a wideout goes across the middle people talk about how tough they have to be, how they have to have their head on a swivel because a safety can just rub them out. The thing is, that Browner can and does put the same kind of punishment on guys on the ends. So now you cannot just avoid the safeties and be sure of not getting hit as hard. Also, Browner cleans up against the run pretty well too and if someone breaks loose he is a bit tougher for a WR to block because he is so big and physical. This means that if you are a WR you are thinking about where the guy is, because if you get loose he will probably drill you before you hit the ground. Maybe if you keep him close you can catch it anyway, but not if he is getting adept at stripping the ball loose.

He doesn't have the quickest hips like some corners, but he brings to WR the fear of being hurt (though not intentional injuries) to the mix. It is a complete X factor that is hard to practice for and hard to duplicate. The guy who called him the Punisher was spot on, maybe a guy like Andre Waters was like him or Rodney Harrison, but those guys were more guys that launched themselves at players, not run through them like Browner does. Even then I've never really seen a player that looked like he wanted to rip someone's arms off when he tackled, at least not since the 80s.

The idea that Thurmond or anyone else can replicate that is crazy.

 

[nsport]

Browner's playing style is just brutal, and I love it. He is an extremely important piece of our secondary.

I always love that gif, because Jennings tries to bow up on him, and just gets man-handled as shit. C'mon, man! Browner will wreck your life!

Can't wait to see Jennings matching up with him when the Vikings come to town... I guarantee you he remembers this well. Probably a little peeved that has has to play us two years in a row!

 

[SoulfishHawk]

OWNED

 

[SmokinHawk]

How many teams can say that they have an enforcer at cornerback?

Just one that I'm aware of.

 

[HawkHouse]

Last year, the play that wow'd me the most above all his strips and INTs was him chasing down Adrian Peterson on that 74 yd run to start the game. I could not believe how he caught up to him the way he did.

I remember that, I was floored at how he closed on him. AP went to the strong side too and Browner had to close on him form the weak side so he had to cover alot of ground.

BB was determined and didn't give up on the play, Awesome!

 

[themunn]

I still don't particularly care what you people thought of me criticizing Browner. (It IS me that many of you are thinking of, though many of you are too polite to name names.) I don't think it was ever strange to be skeptical about a CFL star in his late twenties whose first year back in the NFL only confirmed his reputation of penalty-drawing play. 99% of guys like that don't improve into perennial Pro Bowlers. It's also not strange to be skeptical of turnovers as a reliable, consistent stat.

The Denver game was probably the best, most technically sound game of Browner's career. He's never covered that well. He probably had extra motivation, playing as he was against the team that cut him and denied him his first NFL shot. But he played great. If he keeps it up, Seattle ends up in a very good position: having to decide between two CB's who are potential Pro Bowl material in their own different ways. Criticism of Thurmond is still focused mostly on his health and not on his talent. But hey, if Browner can somehow keep manufacturing big plays, he becomes a player template unto himself. There's no arguing with that talent.

So PC/JS continue their streak of making most NFL paradigms and projections look like foolishness. If Browner remains on this tier, I'll be eating crow. (Just try not to shove my face into the dish, OP. That's a douchebag tactic. The honest crow-eaters will do so on their own; the dishonest ones won't admit to being wrong no matter what you say.)

Loads of people have torn into Browner in the past, you're not the only one.
I still don't understand why, his completion percentage against is elite (47%, Sherman finished the season with 41%)
His 5.5 yards per attempt in his direction ranked 3rd among corners, and he did this without the luxury of facing the Cardinals, Bills and Rams at the end of the season, which would probably have made his numbers look even more impressive.
Browner had a rough start for Seattle, but since around the time he took the interception to the house in New York he's quietly been one of the best cover corners in the league. He gets burned on occasion, but no more so than any other corner in the league.

Add to that his physical beatdown ability and it's clear he's one of the most valuable players at that position in the league