Niners Nation
The San Francisco 49ers got a big win over the Carolina Panthers on Monday, using a stellar defensive performance to win 20-9 and improve to 8-4 on the season.
Safety Ji’Ayir Brown was the star of the day, recording two clutch interceptions, including one in the end zone. Brown had seen his snap count and tackle numbers increase over the past few weeks, but the ball-hawking numbers hadn’t been there this year.
But on Monday, he was able to intercept Bryce Young twice, which helped him earn the NFC Defensive Player of the Week honors.
Is Brown experiencing a breakthrough moment after a couple of years of up-and-down play?
“He has played like this before, so I don’t want to say like he’s just overall improving,” Shanahan said of Brown. “I thought he played at a high level when he came in as a rookie and played for us. But I think just stringing together these weeks, you know when you’re in and out throughout the offseason with the surgery he had and the injuries in training camp, it’s hard to just get better each week.
“I think stringing together, whatever these weeks are, six weeks, maybe more, he’s been starting, you can just see him getting more consistent, getting more confident doing his job great, knowing when to cheat his job and take some of the tips and knowing when to make some educated guesses and stuff. That’s the way you make plays out there by doing that stuff. Can’t get carried away with it though, because that’s the way you give plays to the other team, and I think he’s found a really good balance at that each week.”
This season, Brown has seen his role fluctuate quite a bit, playing both some big nickel and safety, while also being in and out of the rotation.
“Tig’s been awesome,” Shanahan continued. “When he first started over [here], he replaced Huf (Talanoa Hufanga) when Huf got injured, I believe it was Huf’s ACL injury. And then Tig played at a really high level all the way to the Super Bowl and into the next year. He was in and out a little bit when Huf came back. But this offseason, went through a lot of rehab stuff, missed some time with camp. Missed some time in the offseason, gave guys other opportunities, which had him start off not in a safety role, which I can’t tell you guys about how well he handled that. He really became a very good player on special teams, which is how he started out.
“He was unbelievable in our big nickel role and really just with how he was handled both of those roles. We wanted to make sure we gave him an opportunity back at safety before Malik [Mustapha] came back. And when we did, he did well in that role and has kept the job and is getting better and better each week.”
Brown has been a starter for the last...
