fter taking a deep dive into Journey Brown‘s film and breaking down his body of work as a player/prospect, I think he is one of the most undervalued players in the devy world. Fresh off winning the Cotton Bowl MVP and finishing the season in ridiculous form, I’m very confident he has star potential. If he can build on last season and continue to improve, his value is going to skyrocket.
OVERVIEW
Tabbed as a three-star recruit, Brown didn’t get many offers despite putting up crazy numbers. He put up over 2400-yards in each of his final two years in high school, which included a single game where he stuffed the box score with over 700-yards and 10 touchdown. Yes, you read that correctly: One game, ten scores.
He has a solid frame at 5-11, 206 with a BMI (body mass index) of 28.7. He definitely looks like he can add to it and continue to get stronger without losing his speed.
He finally got his time to shine last season after sitting behind two NFL-quality backs in Saquon Barkley and Miles Sanders, resulting in:
His production wasn’t anything crazy on the surface, but when you really look at his five game-stretch to end the season (to the tune of 78-593-9), you can see he really took over as the lead back and was entrusted with a bigger workload. This leads me to believe he should carve out a bigger role next season, despite being in a talented backfield at Pennsylvania State.
If he repeated that at the NFL’s Scouting Combine, there is only one other running back to run a sub-4.30 forty, 35-inch vertical, and 10.10-foot broad and that is Chris Johnson.
Speed
The most obvious trait of Browns is his speed. To put it simply: He’s fast. To add some context, in his junior year of high school, he broke the state of Pennsylvania’s 100m record with a time of 10.43… in the rain. He has elite speed and as you’ll see in the plays below (all over 20+ yards) he can score from anywhere on the field, a lot of these runs he’s untouched. Last season he had touchdown lengths of 56, 45, 37, 35, 32, 23, 18, 18, 6, 2, 2, 1, 1.
Burst
Even though he has the long speed you still want to see how quickly he can get to that gear. These clips might not seem a lot different from the above, but they just show how quickly he can get into gear and slash through the box and into the secondary.
Navigation
When your most dominant trait is speed and you want to become an elite back, you’ve got to be able to gear down, navigate through traffic, break tackles and make people miss. Per PFF, he averaged 10.1 yards per carry, 7.5 yards after contact, and 0.41 broken tackles on his 37 attempts in between the guards.
PATIENCE
What’s even more important for speed backs is being able slow right down in short yardage situations. Brown showed he can do this multiple times in the film I watched. Here are two third and short plays below that he converted. He displays enough patience to find a crease and get the yards needed.
PLAY STRENGTH
This is the most underrated part of Brown’s game. He actually plays super strong and it’s what really surprised me when I broke it down. He just sheds arm tackles and has the upper body strength to just throw people to the ground with a wicked stiff arm. Last season he averaged 4.4 yards after contact overall for backs with over 100 carries against Power 5 competition, second only to Travis Etienne.
He doesn’t always display this play strength, but when he gets in the zone and does things like this it really shows the potential he’s got and how physical he can be. I’m super intrigued to see if he can continue to get stronger and add to his frame.
Receiving ability
To be a true feature back, you need to be able to be on the field on third down. To be in on third down, you need to be able to contribute in the passing game and not be a liability on pass pro. Brown wasn’t asked to contribute in passing game notably, but he showed that when asked he can do it well. When the volumes not there, I’m looking for efficiency which he had while averaging 8.9 yards on 15 catches. He displays natural hands and putting him in open space with his speed is a win for the offense. I think he can handle a big passing workload.
Pass Protection
My thoughts on pass protection for (any) backs are basically don’t be a liability. If you’re not a liability, can hold your own, and are a willing blocker, that’s all I want to see. Brown does this enough, although not always pretty, he gets the job done. These were the first three pass pro reps I came across. Each play he gives the quarterback enough time to make a throw, two of them are on third down.
Concerns
My main concern for Brown is wanting to see him carry the load more and see how he holds up. He’s only had 153 total touches so the body of work isn’t huge. Unfortunately for us and Brown, the Nittany Lions have a stable of backs and he might not being able to get that opportunity in college. But with the way he finished last season, I think he’s earned lead back duties. I want to see him play with more strength consistently, especially when things aren’t blocked well and the lanes aren’t quite there.
value and future projection
DLF: Currently RB13 (34 Overall)
Devy Watch: Currently RB21 (55 Overall)
I am a lot higher on Brown than the consensus. I have him in my second tier with Najee Harris and Max Borghi. I’m currently comfortable taking him the second round of (devy) drafts due to his upside which might seem crazy, but you can get him far cheaper than that in drafts. I think he is a screaming value in a group that I’m not in love with compared to the one that included the 2020 class.
If Brown can further strengthen his frame, handle a bigger load and contribute more in the passing game I can easily see him becoming one the most valuable backs in the 2021 class and ascending into a first-round dynasty rookie pick.