To say it’s been an eventful first week of training camp for the Tennessee Titans would be an understatement. There’s been no shortage of page-turning stories. But, I don’t want the emergence of a rookie defensive back to get lost in the shuffle because I’m a huge fan of the guy. And, it’s awesome to see Titans fans who are just now waking up to his game. To quote the great grind gawd JT Ruhnke, “Jarvis Brownlee Jr. is playing as advertised.”
#Titans Jarvis Brownlee Jr is playing as advertised, great ability to stick to the receiver pic.twitter.com/IBdhpeUxcu
— JT Ruhnke (@jt_ruhnke) July 30, 2024
Here’s what’s so encouraging about Brownlee to me – what we’re seeing in practice aligns with what we saw on the tape. Brownlee looks like he’s being thrown into the deep end, and the guy we thought he could be is showing up. He’s physical. He’s getting his hand in the throwing window at the point of the catch. He’s undercutting routes. I mean, this dude is doing everything we saw him do at Louisville. I had him on my ‘Hidden Gems’ list from this 2024 class, and if you’re a subscriber at Stacking The Inbox, you already know how much I loved Brownlee, but if you’re not (you really should be), this was my eval on Brownlee:
At 5’10” and 194, his frame looks a little light. But, he plays as if it’s anything but light. In Mobile, I noticed how active he was with his hands at the line of scrimmage, but the real eyebrow-raiser for me was seeing him practically run routes for the receiver he was covering in practice multiple times. It wasn’t just a one-time deal against a particular player. He was doing it every day it felt like. Getting to catch up on the tape, it accurately reflects that and then some. That was the final straw for me – when I saw that the guy in practice was the same guy on tape, I added him to the Hidden Gems class. He just seems to have a knack for undercutting a receiver at the break point, understanding who is trying to go where, locking in on a target, and forcing difficult throws when a receiver gets behind him. It’s really cerebral stuff.
He’s not the fastest or most explosive guy out there, but he doesn’t panic at all if a guy gets behind him. Instead of overreacting, he just naturally gets in line with the receiver and forces the quarterback to throw over him and into the bucket. You reasonably point out that anticipation buckets are far more likely to come from NFL quarterbacks, and that’s fair, but I like that trait in Brownlee on tape. He seamlessly passes off responsibilities in zone coverage, but not before at least getting a jab in on a receiver’s shoulder as they streak across his zone in front of him. He’s willing to get in there and scrap with anybody, no matter how big they are (see: Johnny Wilson). And, he’s going to scratch and claw to cap your route before you can really even get into it. Some plays I watched, I couldn’t help but wonder why a flag wasn’t thrown.
The thing we couldn’t really see at the Senior Bowl (not real game action no matter how much you try and simulate it) is just how feisty he is as a run defender. It doesn’t matter who you are. He’s going to hit you with everything he’s got. The elephant in the room is the athletic testing. Hand up, I’ll acknowledge it is not good. A 31.5 inch vertical…1.62 10-yard split…ehhhhhh….not loving that. And, I’ll say for the record…that does show up on tape sometimes. I think it’s awesome that he plays with instincts to force difficult throws, but shit…sometimes, you just want to see a guy win a foot race. That’s not Brownlee on 100% of his snaps, and that’s justifiably the biggest concern when projecting him to the NFL. Still, if you can get him in the building and develop him some, he is stylistically exactly the type of cornerback you want under Dennard Wilson. Hell, I didn’t even mention a potential move to safety, but that might be on the table too. Bottom line is that Brownlee is a tough, smart player that can contribute on the field as well as being a tone-setter for your locker room.
#Titans CB Jarvis Brownlee Jr on stacking days out here at training camp pic.twitter.com/wW3fJHRKCq
— JT Ruhnke (@jt_ruhnke) July 31, 2024
While I think he starts out in a depth role, I won’t be surprised if he grows into a starter in the future. He could be one of the guys…actually, I figure he probably is the guy…that could benefit the most from the extra reps in Chidobe Awuzie’s absence. We talked about him as if he would need to play inside initially, but the way this guy is rising to the challenge in camp, I don’t know. He might be fine with a trial by fire. Throw him outside and see what happens. Regardless, I can’t wait to watch what Brownlee does the rest of the summer.
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Stoney Keeley is the Editor in Chief of The SoBros Network, and a Dogs Playing Poker on velvet connoisseur. He is a strong supporter of Team GSD, #BeBetter, and ‘Minds right, asses tight.’ “Big Natural” covers the Tennessee Titans, Nashville, Yankee Candle, and a whole wealth of nonsense. Follow on Twitter @StoneyKeeley.
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