Revenge of the Birds
The Arizona Cardinals are now knee deep in trying to find the right guy to lead the franchise going forward. No more promises of three-year plans.
RELATED: CARDINALS COACHING SEARCH
ROTB Managing Editor Seth Cox has assembled a current list of candidates:
One of the interviews that the Cardinals have requested is Thomas Brown, the passing game coordinator with the New England Patriots.
Who is he? What are his qualifications?
The Georgia native grew up in Tucker, just a smidge northeast of Atlanta, and he attended Tucker High School. He played running back for the football team. He was clocked at 4.4 in the 40. As a senior, he had 148 carries for 779 yards with 10 touchdowns, plus 10 receptions for 84 yards and an additional score.
Brown had plenty of interested schools, including Penn State, Maryland, Georgia, Arizona, Florida State, Notre Dame, and North Carolina. He chose to remain close to home (51 miles) and committed to Georgia.
Georgia played Brown right away as a freshman with the most carries and yards in his four years at the school. He ended up with 2,646 yards on 529 attempts with 23 touchdowns and a 5.0 yards per carry average. In 2005, Georgia won the SEC title. He was elected by his teammates as the permanent offensive team captain in 2007.
Brown was also a standout weightlifter and set numerous team records. According to his entry in Georgia’s football media guide, Brown was “the strongest pound-for-pound football player in the history of Georgia football during his playing career.”
In the 2008 NFL draft, the Atlanta Falcons selected Brown in the sixth round. A horse collar tackle in the preseason destroyed his rookie season, as he ended up on IR instead. In the following training camp, he was a last-day cut.
Brown was signed by the Cleveland Browns to their practice squad in 2009. The next season, he was on the practice squad, then pulled up to play on special teams before being waived. He then sat out all of 2010 without any offers. He waited for a call in 2011 that never came. In all, Brown had three years in the league with zero stats.
In 2012, Brown hung up his cleats and was hired as the RB coach for the University of Tennessee-Chatanooga. He left there the following season and accepted the same position with Marshall. After one season, he accepted the job of RB coach with the University of Wisconsin, where he tutored Melvin Gordon, who set the school’s single-season rushing record.
For the next four years, Brown became the RB coach for Georgia, Miami, and...
