LB Cam Brown: The Good, the Great and the Ugly

Cam Brown was the first of four linebackers drafted by the Giants last year. What was he able to give them as a rookie and what's his upside? Nick Falato breaks it all down in the latest installment of "The Good, the Great and the Ugly."

Author:
Nick Falato
Publish date:
Jun 30, 2021 11:09 AM EDT

New York Giants Head coach Joe Judge has done an excellent job assembling a coaching staff that consists of former college coaches with a recruiting background in Power-5 conferences.

The most represented conference is the SEC, especially after the addition of former Alabama defensive coordinator and Tennessee Head football coach Jeremy Pruitt.

Judge did not neglect the Big-10, which is arguably the second most powerful conference in college football. Judge, along with Patrick Graham as his defensive coordinator, brought in Sean Spencer, also known as “Coach Chaos,” to be their defensive line coach.

Spencer was the Penn State defensive line coach from 2013-2017 before assuming the role as assistant head coach to James Franklin for the 2018 and 2019 seasons.

Spencer was very familiar with the Penn State program and he might have had significant influence in the drafting of 2020- 6th-round linebacker Cam Brown who was a team captain for the Nittany Lions. Brown is a rare type of linebacker/EDGE hybrid with unique athletic and measurable characteristics.

The length, leadership, and coachability definitely appealed to Judge’s staff, especially with the support of a former coach who knew Brown’s work ethic and on field abilities.

Due to the injuries at the EDGE position for the Giants in 2020, Brown found his way onto the field quite often, playing 94 defensive snaps and 311 special teams snaps.

He was one of the main core special teams players who was second on the team in total special teams tackles at 6 (two were assisted, and Elijah Penny led the team with 8).

Brown was a linebacker in college but aligned mainly as an outside linebacker, EDGE, in a two-point stance in passing situations. His ability to set the edge as a run defender wasn’t evident - he only played 18 run defense snaps.

Brown should stick on this roster, despite the depth added to the defense, mostly because of his special teams ability, length, and ability to generate some pressure with his quick change of direction ability and unique measurements.

Let’s see what he offered the Giants in 2020 in this edition of the Good, the Great, and the Ugly.

(Cam Brown is No. 47.)

The Good: Finds Ways to Generate Pressure

Cam Brown is far from a refined pass rusher at the moment. He doesn’t have a wide array of pass-rushing moves, he can’t convert speed to power, he doesn’t have a bull-rush move, nor is he overly flexible.

Despite these deficiencies--he is new to playing EDGE--he finds ways to generate pressure on timely twists and the high amount of competitive toughness he brings to the football field.

Brown had seven pressures, four hurries, and three hits, and 70 pass-rushing reps in 2020. Here’s a play where the Giants are aligned with an overloaded look to the right (side of the screen, not the offense).

New York uses creepers on the opposite side that blitz, Corey Ballentine (No. 25) and Jabrill Peppers (No. 21), while the three defenders to the right side drop into coverage, like a 4-man Fire Zone blitz.

Brown is up against Lane Johnson (No. 65), and Brown does a good job releasing vertically with patience and tempo in an attempt to divert Johnson’s attention away from the blitzing Ballentine.

Johnson sees the disguise and passes off Brown, but Brown operates well in this space. He jabs his outside foot into the ground while exploding inside and dipping his outside shoulder to cross the face of Carson Wentz (No. 11) to earn a pressure.

Wentz completes the pass, but Brown can still crash inside to get interior pressure in the pocket.

Another slant inside by Brown on this tackle/end stunt with Leonard Williams (No. 99). Brown easily absorbs the hit, goes inside, finds the open hole, and quickly accelerates while turning his body to put pressure on Wentz and force the incompletion.

Brown does a solid job maintaining speed through his turn but was a bit slow to pick it up after absorbing the hit. Still a good pressure overall.

Here’s a double T/E stunt with Blake Martinez (54) acting as the tackle on the right side of the screen. Brown uses good timing and does well with his reaction to Williams' movement to the outside. He allows the pick and the following of the two linemen, but Jason Kelce (No. 62) is one of the more savvy centers in the NFL.

Kelce sees the mistake to his right, and it was a good job selling the upfield movement initially by Brown, but the veteran center was looking for work and de-cleated Brown to the deck.

Brown will naturally struggle with strength due to a high center of gravity, but this was still a really good movement and set-up by the young EDGE rusher.

Brown almost gets his first career sack on this play by utilizing a double swipe move against Bobby Hart (No. 68). He darts inside and gets Hart off-balance, but the guard is there to protect the inside, and he gives a solid hit to Brown.

However, Brown does well against the contact and recollects himself quickly with the frame of mind to track Brandon Allen (No. 8) out of the pocket and force an incompletion.

Brown takes a good angle, shows really solid athletic ability and balance to recollect, and uses that length, along with good lower body burst, to wrap Allen up as he’s falling.

Brown has a lot of development to go in terms of rushing the passer, but he has a solid foundation to build upon.

The Great: Special Teams

I have to start some of these clips midway through the kick/punt due to time with the GIF conversion, but we see Brown make the tackle here.

He’s the sixth man from the right, and he takes on two blockers while playing trailed off the more aggressive defenders. He’s so reactionary.

He sees the returner hit the hole and accelerate towards the middle of the field more, so he angles more towards the numbers and hits the returner for the tackle. It’s very good vision, awareness, and finishing ability on this play.

Watch how Brown separates from the block directly in the middle of the field (Brown is the fifth Giant on the right side of your screen).

He quickly darts down the field, engages the block, sees the path of the returner, and then collapses quickly to make a wrap-up tackle. Brown does well in many of these situations on special teams, and it’s not reserved for just kickoff coverage.

There’s no tackle from Brown on this play, but it’s excellent positioning that helps force the returner out of bounds. Brown gets off his block and releases to the numbers to execute outside containment on this punt return.

There are three Cardinal special teams players in his direct vicinity, yet Brown sets up, uses his length to keep number 22 off his chest, and then positions himself closer to the sidelines than the numbers, effectively eliminating a breakout punt return up the sidelines.

This may seem easy, but it’s just an all-around good play from Brown. His positioning allows David Mayo to force the returner out of bounds.

This is a game-saving tackle by Brown on this punt return where his length comes in handy. This is a resilient play because Brown does get sucked a bit too far inside, forcing the punter to play containment.

He falls and misses the tackle, but Brown quickly realizes his mistake and tracks the returner down from behind to make a shoestring tackle and save a possible touchdown. This could, and very well might have been, a game-saving play by Cam Brown.

The Ugly: Appears to Lack Upside to Become a Complete Player

Brown offers a lot to this roster, and he can be a solid role player within the Giants system, but I don’t believe the upside is quite there for him to become a full-time starter.

He has tweener traits that the Giants attempted to utilize as a pass-rushing EDGE due to circumstance. Within Patrick Graham’s system, I don’t believe Brown can be a player who will be used on early downs.

He may only have the upside as a core special teams player and someone who can come in and put pressure on the quarterback, more because of exotic stunts than his ability to win one versus one.

This shouldn’t be too much of a surprise - he’s a sixth-round pick. It’s also not a slight on Brown either, just more a possible reality of his skill-set.

I hope he’s with the Giants for a while and can possibly be Joe Judge’s version of Matthew Slater or Brandon Bolden on the defensive side of the ball.

Brown showed a lot of promise on special teams and had some flashes in certain pass-rushing situations. If more injuries happen to the Giants EDGE group, I don’t envision Brown being on the field in more run-oriented downs.