Ji'Ayir "Tig" Brown-S-Penn State, 3rd round 2023 Draft

Once he gets coached up here, under wilks - a great Db/S coach, he is going to be a stud. He won't start year one but will get valuable experience in 3 safety sets.

i love this kid. So much potential. Seems like a great locker room guys too. Our draft selections were all super high on character, I love it.

anyone nit picking bad plays of his, you can literally do that for every college player. Lol not every play is perfect.

No one in college football had more interceptions over the last two years than Tig Brown! Can literally do it all - Int/Cover, Rush the qb, strip sack/rec fumble,and run support. Beautiful. Will be an excellent fit here with the talent around him.

https://youtu.be/jjXghgHsCio

Looks like a playmaker! Can get some time in 3 safety sets and can play the nickel too. Going to assume the plan is to groom him to start next year, since Gipson was considering retirement this offseason. My only two concerns kind of go together - the over aggressive play (paired with Hufanga's similar play) and the lack of top end speed, he doesn't seem like a fit for a true single high safety - and I thought that was more Wilks' scheme.

Originally posted by OnTheClock:

Originally posted by Kolohe:

Originally posted by OnTheClock:
Can anyone find cut-ups of Ji'Ayir Brown actually looking good? I'm sorry but I've now gone through multiple games and I'm STILL trying to find a reason why he was considered worthy of a pick this high.

I'm losing my mind over here. I want to find anything to prove my instincts wrong, as everyone else including the talking heads are gushing about Brown, but my first impression watching before the draft was terrible, and as I've continued to dig, I've only found more visual evidence to reinforce that take.

What's terrible about him?? Why not post cut ups of that??

Good idea, will do. Here you go:


0:27 bites on the play action, man quickly gets behind him
1:30 terrible tackling angle
1:40 HORRIFIC angle playing the ball
2:00 bites and lets his man get behind him AGAIN
2:25 burned AGAIN
2:53 another bad wide angle allows the receiver to the 1st down marker
3:00 gets absolutely embarrassed, stiff-armed into the turf which leads to the runner scoring a TD
3:13 has NO CLUE where the ball is and runs the opposite direction of the play
3:50 missed tackle

I don't know how anyone can watch that and tell me he looked good there.

He should get some easy interceptions because of Bosa and Hargrave. Wilks likes to blitz so, from what I understand, that's one of his strengths. Tough for me to say he played awful if I don't know the defensive coverage call. What I will say is a DB can cover a WR for only about a couple of seconds, and even Deion Sanders was burned by Jerry Rice time and again, because his Atlanta defense couldn't generate a decent pass rush. I'm hoping those mistakes you saw was the result of their pass rush not getting there on that particular play.

Really solid pick. Just great instincts will compliment Hufunga tremendously

Originally posted by tankle104:
Once he gets coached up here, under wilks - a great Db/S coach, he is going to be a stud. He won't start year one but will get valuable experience in 3 safety sets.

i love this kid. So much potential. Seems like a great locker room guys too. Our draft selections were all super high on character, I love it.

anyone nit picking bad plays of his, you can literally do that for every college player. Lol not every play is perfect.

I'm not so sure about that. Look who just got promoted and to what role:

Defensive Passing Game Specialist/Nickels - Nick Sorensen

One theme I instantly noticed was Wilk's fingerprints were all over this off season, even more than Kocurek.

And look at the types of adds: pass rushing 3Ts and ER's, LB, S and CB's who specialize in blitzing.

Long outside press CB's.

CB's, S's and LB's who can play multiple positions.

In short, Wilks is bringing the heat from everywhere and from everyone. Hufunga, Gipson and Brown are going to be rotating all over the place in nickel, IMHO.

Originally posted by NCommand:
I'm not so sure about that. Look who just got promoted and to what role:

Defensive Passing Game Specialist/Nickels - Nick Sorensen

One theme I instantly noticed was Wilk's fingerprints were all over this off season, even more than Kocurek.

And look at the types of adds: pass rushing 3Ts and ER's, LB, S and CB's who specialize in blitzing.

Long outside press CB's.

CB's, S's and LB's who can play multiple positions.

In short, Wilks is bringing the heat from everywhere and from everyone. Hufunga, Gipson and Brown are going to be rotating all over the place in nickel, IMHO.

Are we sure Wilks is any good at scouting? It's gonna be hilarious (not really) if he turns out to just suck and saddle us with dog s**t defensive busts

Seems to me they are going after a lot of the same type guys they always have on the offseason

Originally posted by dhp318:

Originally posted by NCommand:
I'm not so sure about that. Look who just got promoted and to what role:

Defensive Passing Game Specialist/Nickels - Nick Sorensen

One theme I instantly noticed was Wilk's fingerprints were all over this off season, even more than Kocurek.

And look at the types of adds: pass rushing 3Ts and ER's, LB, S and CB's who specialize in blitzing.

Long outside press CB's.

CB's, S's and LB's who can play multiple positions.

In short, Wilks is bringing the heat from everywhere and from everyone. Hufunga, Gipson and Brown are going to be rotating all over the place in nickel, IMHO.

Are we sure Wilks is any good at scouting? It's gonna be hilarious (not really) if he turns out to just suck and saddle us with dog s**t defensive busts

We've been pretty damn good at scouting the front 7. So Wilks specializing in coverage, you'd think he knows what he's looking for and is bringing in guys like Oliver and Hartsfield to help get everyone up to speed.

I'll trust him until he proves me otherwise but for now, the new players skill sets seem to match his overall philosophy (Warner confirmed that as well).

Originally posted by Giedi:

Originally posted by OnTheClock:

Originally posted by Kolohe:

Originally posted by OnTheClock:

Can anyone find cut-ups of Ji'Ayir Brown actually looking good? I'm sorry but I've now gone through multiple games and I'm STILL trying to find a reason why he was considered worthy of a pick this high.

I'm losing my mind over here. I want to find anything to prove my instincts wrong, as everyone else including the talking heads are gushing about Brown, but my first impression watching before the draft was terrible, and as I've continued to dig, I've only found more visual evidence to reinforce that take.

What's terrible about him?? Why not post cut ups of that??

Good idea, will do. Here you go:


0:27 bites on the play action, man quickly gets behind him
1:30 terrible tackling angle
1:40 HORRIFIC angle playing the ball
2:00 bites and lets his man get behind him AGAIN
2:25 burned AGAIN
2:53 another bad wide angle allows the receiver to the 1st down marker
3:00 gets absolutely embarrassed, stiff-armed into the turf which leads to the runner scoring a TD
3:13 has NO CLUE where the ball is and runs the opposite direction of the play
3:50 missed tackle

I don't know how anyone can watch that and tell me he looked good there.

He should get some easy interceptions because of Bosa and Hargrave. Wilks likes to blitz so, from what I understand, that's one of his strengths. Tough for me to say he played awful if I don't know the defensive coverage call. What I will say is a DB can cover a WR for only about a couple of seconds, and even Deion Sanders was burned by Jerry Rice time and again, because his Atlanta defense couldn't generate a decent pass rush. I'm hoping those mistakes you saw was the result of their pass rush not getting there on that particular play.

The one thing I'll say is, with Wilks being specialized in DBs, if there's anyone who can coach out the flaws, he's the guy. My biggest gripe with Brown is his eye discipline/mental mistakes. A slip up here and there is no big deal, but when it happens half a dozen times in one game or more, that starts to raise a red flag with me. That play at 3:13.. like.. where you going bro? Ball ain't anywhere near there.

From all I've read, he has a good reputation for understanding concepts but he lacks discipline and wants to freelance too much in hopes of making the big play, rather than letting it come to him. Coordinators routinely picked on him with misdirection.

All this said, do I think he's doomed from the start? No. He just has a bit more work to do than I would like for a third, but it can be done. If he wants to be successful, he really needs to focus on 3 things: fixing his tackling angles, sticking to his assignment and doing his job, and improving his footwork.

I hadn't even read his NFL.com profile until right now, and the weaknesses are spot on:

Can be frenetic and inefficient with his movement.
Desire to make plays can be used against him.
Moved out of position by quarterback's misdirection.
Needs to maintain an expanded field focus.
Inconsistent matching route breaks effectively.
Must play with better downhill control and positioning as a tackler

The good news for Brown is he'll get to learn from a savvy veteran like Gipson.

Originally posted by NCommand:

Originally posted by tankle104:
Once he gets coached up here, under wilks - a great Db/S coach, he is going to be a stud. He won't start year one but will get valuable experience in 3 safety sets.

i love this kid. So much potential. Seems like a great locker room guys too. Our draft selections were all super high on character, I love it.

anyone nit picking bad plays of his, you can literally do that for every college player. Lol not every play is perfect.

I'm not so sure about that. Look who just got promoted and to what role:

Defensive Passing Game Specialist/Nickels - Nick Sorensen

One theme I instantly noticed was Wilk's fingerprints were all over this off season, even more than Kocurek.

And look at the types of adds: pass rushing 3Ts and ER's, LB, S and CB's who specialize in blitzing.

Long outside press CB's.

CB's, S's and LB's who can play multiple positions.

In short, Wilks is bringing the heat from everywhere and from everyone. Hufunga, Gipson and Brown are going to be rotating all over the place in nickel, IMHO.

I can see them doing some awesome blitz packages with dee winter as well. Taking advantage of his awesome speed! Muahhaha

Originally posted by OnTheClock:

Originally posted by Kolohe:

Originally posted by OnTheClock:

Originally posted by Kolohe:

Originally posted by OnTheClock:
Can anyone find cut-ups of Ji'Ayir Brown actually looking good? I'm sorry but I've now gone through multiple games and I'm STILL trying to find a reason why he was considered worthy of a pick this high.

I'm losing my mind over here. I want to find anything to prove my instincts wrong, as everyone else including the talking heads are gushing about Brown, but my first impression watching before the draft was terrible, and as I've continued to dig, I've only found more visual evidence to reinforce that take.

What's terrible about him?? Why not post cut ups of that??

Good idea, will do. Here you go:


0:27 bites on the play action, man quickly gets behind him
1:30 terrible tackling angle
1:40 HORRIFIC angle playing the ball
2:00 bites and lets his man get behind him AGAIN
2:25 burned AGAIN
2:53 another bad wide angle allows the receiver to the 1st down marker
3:00 gets absolutely embarrassed, stiff-armed into the turf which leads to the runner scoring a TD
3:13 has NO CLUE where the ball is and runs the opposite direction of the play
3:50 missed tackle

I don't know how anyone can watch that and tell me he looked good there.

First off we're here nitpicking a 3rd round pick like a 1st rounder. Second, most of what you have noted can be corrected with coaching. I mean mo player is gonna look like an All-Pro on every play either. If Tig Brown would've ran a 4.35 he would've been a late 1st to 2nd round pick I guarantee you that.

I don't think this is nitpicking, I'm just analyzing like you requested. It's a comprehensive evaluation of his performance in that game on each of the plays he was involved in. 75% of the plays he was involved in were unfortunately easy to negatively mark. It would be different if maybe it was only a small handful, or even just half of the plays. I am taking into consideration that he is a lae 3rd rounder too. Maybe this was an anomaly game. His 2021 tape I threw out to give him the benefit of the doubt (it featured much of the same issues).

Where my line of thinking goes is, with that many coachable flaws, usually those guys don't go in the 3rd without having superior athletic traits. Brown didn't test super well, so based on the historical precedent, he did go earlier than I would've expected, based on what I witnessed.

He does fill a need, and if they felt these noticeable issues were not frequently present (which you'd see in a lower round or undrafted guys) then it would make sense. We obviously don't have as much to go off of as the staff would. I trust our FO, I'm just personally not seeing much to get excited about yet.

I think the evaluation is fair -- granted to the extent of the sample size I have. Hopefully, he plays way better here in the pre-season than he did in that cut-up.

Oh it's nitpicking at its finest. I'm sure if you post a video of Joey Porter Jr. you'd also fine mis tackles and blown coverages. Point is, you take one game and come to a conclusion about him. Like I said, you can't expect a player to make All Pro plays on every play. All players have flaws in college and Pros no matter who it is. And the evaluation is fair but you're over here laughing and giggling is he's incapable of contributing.

Originally posted by Kolohe:
Oh it's nitpicking at its finest. I'm sure if you post a video of Joey Porter Jr. you'd also fine mis tackles and blown coverages. Point is, you take one game and come to a conclusion about him. Like I said, you can't expect a player to make All Pro plays on every play. All players have flaws in college and Pros no matter who it is. And the evaluation is fair but you're over here laughing and giggling is he's incapable of contributing.

What Brown excels at, he will be put in position consistently for here. Our system fits him perfectly and what he'll be asked to do here. I love this pick.

Originally posted by tankle104:

Originally posted by Kolohe:
Oh it's nitpicking at its finest. I'm sure if you post a video of Joey Porter Jr. you'd also fine mis tackles and blown coverages. Point is, you take one game and come to a conclusion about him. Like I said, you can't expect a player to make All Pro plays on every play. All players have flaws in college and Pros no matter who it is. And the evaluation is fair but you're over here laughing and giggling is he's incapable of contributing.

What Brown excels at, he will be put in position consistently for here. Our system fits him perfectly and what he'll be asked to do here. I love this pick.

So do I.

One thing I was waiting to see is what DB Wilks chooses, after all that is his back ground and I think John Lynch agrees. These guys watch tons of film on players, they're not basing players off of one game or a few tweets and jumping to conclusions.