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

Originally posted by Kolohe:

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.

How else could I post his cut-ups and review his play-by-play without "nitpicking"? The 5-6 other plays he was involved in, he made solid tackles in the field of play. The rest of the game, he wasn't involved in the play. I was specifically responding to what you asked about what I saw that looked bad.

So there's the assessment. I shared that one game, but the same issues were found in other cut-ups too. I don't expect perfection, I just want the good to outweigh the bad for a day one and day two pick. Doesn't that seem fair?

In other posts, I did say, to be fair it is not a large sample size and that the staff has a lot more access than any of us would, and if anyone can fix the issues, it's Wilks. I just saw stuff I was concerned with. I didn't like what I saw, but I am not counting him out or rooting against him. I think the concerns are valid and supported by evidence, but that doesn't mean it's the full picture or a guarantee of anything.

I hope I'm wrong and everything I saw was an anomaly.

I appreciate the hard and honest look at the players strengths and weaknesses. It's honest. Let the film talk. And if there are legit concerns, that's great! Now we can cut our areas to watch him improve upon, or not. But that's just me.

Originally posted by NCommand:

I appreciate the hard and honest look at the players strengths and weaknesses. It's honest. Let the film talk. And if there are legit concerns, that's great! Now we can cut our areas to watch him improve upon, or not. But that's just me.

Agree, it makes it that much more fun to see what they've worked on and remedied! The coaches have to know they're not fully polished products, but if they believe they can fix the issue easily, I'd love to see that come to fruition.

I do this with every guy I scout, find the pros and cons, and stay aware and watch to see how they've fixed those things or not.

Originally posted by OnTheClock:

Originally posted by NCommand:
I appreciate the hard and honest look at the players strengths and weaknesses. It's honest. Let the film talk. And if there are legit concerns, that's great! Now we can cut our areas to watch him improve upon, or not. But that's just me.

Agree, it makes it that much more fun to see what they've worked on and remedied! The coaches have to know they're not fully polished products, but if they believe they can fix the issue easily, I'd love to see that come to fruition.

I do this with every guy I scout, find the pros and cons, and stay aware and watch to see how they've fixed those things or not.

This would be an awesome thread to follow and update as the year goes on (for those who get live reps). We started doing a lot of that with Brock as well.

I heard that we will be running a lot more 3 safety formations under wilks. Can anyone explain the pros and cons to it?

Sounds like it would be effective but who comes off the field? Greenlaw? I feel like that is a great set to hide slow linebackers but we don't have that. Can anyone shed some light?

Originally posted by tankle104:
I heard that we will be running a lot more 3 safety formations under wilks. Can anyone explain the pros and cons to it?

Sounds like it would be effective but who comes off the field? Greenlaw? I feel like that is a great set to hide slow linebackers but we don't have that. Can anyone shed some light?

It depends versus what offensive personnel the three safety looks are used against. If it's versus the offense's base personnel (21 or 12). 21 is with two RBs, 12 is one RB, two TEs. In both these cases, the defense usually has 4 DBs (2 CBs, 2 S). Mike Nolan would use three safeties against this, and called it Big Nickel. He removed a LB.
So now the offense has 2 WRs but is going against five DBs (2 CB, 3 S). This sacrifices run defense, but improves pass coverage with the generalization that S has better coverage but is worse versus the run. If Wilks does this, then he's just doing what Mike Nolan did - remove a LB, put in a S to go up against 2 WRs.

If Wilks uses three safeties against 11 (3 WRs). Now it hurts coverage because S aren't as good as a CB in coverage, and with 3 WRs on the field, there could be a mismatch that benefits the offense.
The other scenario is if Wilks uses 3 safeties and 3 CBs to combat 11 (3WRs). In this case, either Warner or Greenlaw leaves the field (1 LB, 3 CB, 3 S). This can be done when one of the two nickel LBs aren't good in coverage, but that's not the case with the 49ers.

So if Wilks uses 3 safeties, my guess is it's against offense's base personnel - so it'd be just like Nolan's Big Nickel. Because I don't see the third safety being better than Greenlaw (for the 49ers to use three S versus 11).

Like Hufanga he most likely doesn't see the field as a rookie other than ST, unless Gipson gets hurt.
He becomes the starter in year 2.
Another great pick.

Originally posted by richterkbelmont:
Like Hufanga he most likely doesn't see the field as a rookie other than ST, unless Gipson gets hurt.
He becomes the starter in year 2.
Another great pick.

Lol what were you watching? Like Hufanga he most likely will see the field in 3 safety sets. Hufanga was not just on ST his rookie season

Some notes I've taken from film, don't really care whether it's called nitpicking or not.

He will gamble and overrun/bite often. I think some slot WRs with good route running and double moves can definitely cause issues for him. Hips aren't quite as fluid as you'd want your FS to be.

Surprisingly hesitant at approaching the runner sometimes. Hufanga has the opposite issue when he comes in recklessly and blows by, but Brown sometimes plays like he's afraid of closing down and will let runners get free yards. Also surprisingly not a great motor and sometimes will semi-jog to the play, realize play isn't over and is late to adjust. I definitely would like to see more hustle/motor and contact initiative. I wonder if there's some internal fear of missing tackle completely if going fast and aggressive.

Solid tackler. He knows he's not a heavy hitter and tends to wrap up and knows when to wrap up vs make a hit.

Good decision making and instincts, barring ocassional brain fart play that makes you wonder what he saw.

Average angles. Sometimes will take good angles and sometimes will take bad angles. This might be the source of his hesitation I saw above.

Good Blitzer and good sideline to sideline gamespeed when no hesitation

Best as a true FS safety over the top who can read the qb and help. I don't think he's anywhere close to Jimmy Ward in tackling reliability or aggression, but he has the ceiling to be a better centerfield FS.

Right now I'd say he's a less finesse and less speedy T Moore with better instincts and IQ. I think he played ST coverage as well.

Originally posted by the_dynasty:
Some notes I've taken from film, don't really care whether it's called nitpicking or not.

He will gamble and overrun/bite often. I think some slot WRs with good route running and double moves can definitely cause issues for him. Hips aren't quite as fluid as you'd want your FS to be.

Surprisingly hesitant at approaching the runner sometimes. Hufanga has the opposite issue when he comes in recklessly and blows by, but Brown sometimes plays like he's afraid of closing down and will let runners get free yards. Also surprisingly not a great motor and sometimes will semi-jog to the play, realize play isn't over and is late to adjust. I definitely would like to see more hustle/motor and contact initiative. I wonder if there's some internal fear of missing tackle completely if going fast and aggressive.

Solid tackler. He knows he's not a heavy hitter and tends to wrap up and knows when to wrap up vs make a hit.

Good decision making and instincts, barring ocassional brain fart play that makes you wonder what he saw.

Average angles. Sometimes will take good angles and sometimes will take bad angles. This might be the source of his hesitation I saw above.

Good Blitzer and good sideline to sideline gamespeed when no hesitation

Best as a true FS safety over the top who can read the qb and help. I don't think he's anywhere close to Jimmy Ward in tackling reliability or aggression, but he has the ceiling to be a better centerfield FS.

Right now I'd say he's a less finesse and less speedy T Moore with better instincts and IQ. I think he played ST coverage as well.

If I had to toss a comp on him he plays very similar to Gipson and Q Diggs.

both are a bit undersized, but have that alpha mentality, Gipson and Brown are pretty rocked up as well. I believe Brown has the "iron lion" award at PSU's weight room:

Max squat: 535
Max bench: 365
Power clean: 335

at 5-11 200lbs. That's pretty impressive.

he was ranked #1 in pressures and #1 in sacks among all safeties per PFF. On 382 coverage snaps he allowed zero TDs and a 56.3 passer rating.

like others have stated (which I'm sure you've seen posted) he's not consistent in his angles. That's a coachable thing though. Lack of elite speed show up for sure.

He's probably best in the robber role, which he played a lot of. He lined up all over the place though. IMO he was a better player than some in here suggest and the combine knocked him down more during the draft process.

I'm not really seeing anything as far a him and Moore go. He's by far more refined at the safety position than Moore ever was. Moore was more of an elite athlete without a spot.

Originally posted by NYniner85:
If I had to toss a comp on him he plays very similar to Gipson and Q Diggs.

both are a bit undersized, but have that alpha mentality, Gipson and Brown are pretty rocked up as well. I believe Brown has the "iron lion" award at PSU's weight room:

Max squat: 535
Max bench: 365
Power clean: 335

at 5-11 200lbs. That's pretty impressive.

he was ranked #1 in pressures and #1 in sacks among all safeties per PFF. On 382 coverage snaps he allowed zero TDs and a 56.3 passer rating.

like others have stated (which I'm sure you've seen posted) he's not consistent in his angles. That's a coachable thing though. Lack of elite speed show up for sure.

He's probably best in the robber role, which he played a lot of. He lined up all over the place though. IMO he was a better player than some in here suggest and the combine knocked him down more during the draft process.

I'm not really seeing anything as far a him and Moore go. He's by far more refined at the safety position than Moore ever was. Moore was more of an elite athlete without a spot.

I found it interesting PFF considers him a pure box safety as they say he cant be trusted deep. They said similar stuff about Huf but Huf is indeed more of a SS

Originally posted by the_dynasty:

Originally posted by NYniner85:
If I had to toss a comp on him he plays very similar to Gipson and Q Diggs.

both are a bit undersized, but have that alpha mentality, Gipson and Brown are pretty rocked up as well. I believe Brown has the "iron lion" award at PSU's weight room:

Max squat: 535
Max bench: 365
Power clean: 335

at 5-11 200lbs. That's pretty impressive.

he was ranked #1 in pressures and #1 in sacks among all safeties per PFF. On 382 coverage snaps he allowed zero TDs and a 56.3 passer rating.

like others have stated (which I'm sure you've seen posted) he's not consistent in his angles. That's a coachable thing though. Lack of elite speed show up for sure.

He's probably best in the robber role, which he played a lot of. He lined up all over the place though. IMO he was a better player than some in here suggest and the combine knocked him down more during the draft process.

I'm not really seeing anything as far a him and Moore go. He's by far more refined at the safety position than Moore ever was. Moore was more of an elite athlete without a spot.

I found it interesting PFF considers him a pure box safety as they say he cant be trusted deep. They said similar stuff about Huf but Huf is indeed more of a SS

Great stuff to all of you guys who are breaking him down. I freaking love this stuff.

Originally posted by thl408:

Originally posted by tankle104:
I heard that we will be running a lot more 3 safety formations under wilks. Can anyone explain the pros and cons to it?

Sounds like it would be effective but who comes off the field? Greenlaw? I feel like that is a great set to hide slow linebackers but we don't have that. Can anyone shed some light?

It depends versus what offensive personnel the three safety looks are used against. If it's versus the offense's base personnel (21 or 12). 21 is with two RBs, 12 is one RB, two TEs. In both these cases, the defense usually has 4 DBs (2 CBs, 2 S). Mike Nolan would use three safeties against this, and called it Big Nickel. He removed a LB.
So now the offense has 2 WRs but is going against five DBs (2 CB, 3 S). This sacrifices run defense, but improves pass coverage with the generalization that S has better coverage but is worse versus the run. If Wilks does this, then he's just doing what Mike Nolan did - remove a LB, put in a S to go up against 2 WRs.

If Wilks uses three safeties against 11 (3 WRs). Now it hurts coverage because S aren't as good as a CB in coverage, and with 3 WRs on the field, there could be a mismatch that benefits the offense.
The other scenario is if Wilks uses 3 safeties and 3 CBs to combat 11 (3WRs). In this case, either Warner or Greenlaw leaves the field (1 LB, 3 CB, 3 S). This can be done when one of the two nickel LBs aren't good in coverage, but that's not the case with the 49ers.

So if Wilks uses 3 safeties, my guess is it's against offense's base personnel - so it'd be just like Nolan's Big Nickel. Because I don't see the third safety being better than Greenlaw (for the 49ers to use three S versus 11).

Appreciate them explanation! Helps a lot.

Greenlaw and Warner are both really good in coverage, so I'd rather not see them come off. I feel like brown is good in coverage and run stop, but we will see how he does in the NFL.

maybe we run the three safeties with only 3 down lineman? Bosa, gravedigger, and armstead?. 3 safeties, 3 corners, 3 d lineman, 2 linebackers?

based on our personal, I don't think that would leave us too vulnerable run wise and all of those d line guys can gobble up double teams. Leaving everyone else to cover or blitz?
I feel like this formation would work great against mobile QBs. What do you think?

Originally posted by NCommand:

Originally posted by the_dynasty:

Originally posted by NYniner85:
If I had to toss a comp on him he plays very similar to Gipson and Q Diggs.

both are a bit undersized, but have that alpha mentality, Gipson and Brown are pretty rocked up as well. I believe Brown has the "iron lion" award at PSU's weight room:

Max squat: 535
Max bench: 365
Power clean: 335

at 5-11 200lbs. That's pretty impressive.

he was ranked #1 in pressures and #1 in sacks among all safeties per PFF. On 382 coverage snaps he allowed zero TDs and a 56.3 passer rating.

like others have stated (which I'm sure you've seen posted) he's not consistent in his angles. That's a coachable thing though. Lack of elite speed show up for sure.

He's probably best in the robber role, which he played a lot of. He lined up all over the place though. IMO he was a better player than some in here suggest and the combine knocked him down more during the draft process.

I'm not really seeing anything as far a him and Moore go. He's by far more refined at the safety position than Moore ever was. Moore was more of an elite athlete without a spot.

I found it interesting PFF considers him a pure box safety as they say he cant be trusted deep. They said similar stuff about Huf but Huf is indeed more of a SS

Great stuff to all of your guys who re breaking him down. I freaking love this stuff.

The GPS trackers that teams put In the shoulder pads (per Penn States data) - Browns max speed on the field was 21 MPh. So he definitely plays faster than he does drills, which is great.

Just have him train with TH and his cousin. Plus Wilks forte is the secondary.

With the exception of Moody, most of the picks are depth with an eye to the future.