Getty Anthony Brown of the Cowboys, after suffering a torn Achilles tendon last year.
Few players understand the cold world of the NFL quite like former Dallas Cowboys cornerback Anthony Brown. It was just a little more than a year ago that Brown tore his Achilles tendon, just before he turned 29 years old. Brown was playing some of his best football, and had started all 12 games. But the injury was some difficult Cowboys news, and essentially ended his time in Dallas.
He bounced through two organizations before landing with a third this week, the New York Jets.
From a personal standpoint, the timing was one of the most difficult parts of Brown’s injury, suffered on a Sunday night game against the Colts. He was a free agent after the season, and never got a chance to cash in on his improvement.
Perhaps he can revive his career and show he is healthy with the Jets. He has certainly fought his way against long odds before. He was a sixth-round pick in 2016 who had to fight his way onto the team and wound up playing all 16 games as a rookie, including nine starts.
In all, Brown started 69 games and played in 94 total games in seven seasons with the Cowboys.
Looks like Anthony Brown is in good spirits after his Achilles surgery 🙏🏽
From his IG story (asb_ix)
Dak Prescott Took Brown Injury Hard
It was, perhaps, the fact that Anthony Brown came in as a fellow 2016 draftee—along with fourth-round pick Dak Prescott—that Prescott was especially shaken up by the Cowboys news of Brown’s injury last year. Both Prescott and Brown faced long odds to earn their starting roles with Dallas.
Prescott said last year after the Anthony Brown injury (per Yahoo): “He’s a f***ing competitor,” Prescott said. “He’s a guy that has fought his f***ing ass off year in and year out to earn his respect, let alone his starting position and playing time. And fights his ass off.
“I got in the locker room, then obviously went over there like I said, tried to just love on him. Saw he was taking it hard, told him I’m there for him, anything he needs. And yeah, I mean a guy, part of the draft class me, him and Zeke [Elliott] left, just know that as [safety] Jayron Kearse told him, it’s a part of it. It’s a part of playing in this game. It’s a part of his story. It’s part of the journey. It will make you stronger.”
A Brown Return Is Good Cowboys News & Karma
The story now for Anthony Brown leads to the Jets, after a stint in Pittsburgh over the summer and in training camp, and a brief run with the 49ers, who had him on the active roster for two games before letting him go on October 31, when the 49ers traded for Chase Young from Washington.
Brown is signing with the Jets’ practice squad, replacing cornerback Craig James. He is one of three corners on the Jets’ practice squad, so just how close he might be to getting back onto the 53-man roster remains to be seen.
The Jets are making a longshot bid for a playoff spot, and are holding out hope that quarterback Aaron Rodgers’ remarkable recovery from an Achilles tear can put them over the hump. If so, they could use Brown, who has appeared in four playoff games and had a 2022 fourth-quarter interception against San Francisco that set up a late Cowboys touchdown to make the score 23-17 and give Dallas a comeback chance.
Alas, the Cowboys did not score again. But now, if Anthony Brown gets a chance to play again, and gets a chance to reach the postseason with the Jets, that will be good Cowboys news in what was a difficult situation.