Bears sign UDFA James Brown - on the good foot

[emperorjones]

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/20 ... mes-brown/

Bears feel good about undrafted free agent James Brown
Posted by Michael David Smith on April 29, 2012, 8:53 AM EDT

AP
Viewers of ESPN’s NFL draft coverage heard a lot about Troy offensive lineman James Brown on Saturday. Mel Kiper ranked Brown as the No. 54 player in the draft and spent much of the fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh rounds calling him one of the best players still available. But NFL teams obviously disagreed, because even after 253 names were called, Brown remained undrafted.

If Kiper is right, the Bears got the best undrafted free agent available: They announced that they signed Brown after the draft.

Brown started 38 games at left tackle for Troy, but many observers of his performance at the Senior Bowl and Scouting Combine came away thinking he lacks the quickness to deal with NFL pass rushers and translates better to guard at the next level. He’s a project, but he’s a project that the Bears have to feel good about getting without having to spend a draft pick on him.....

Signing Brown is a terrific move. I was just about to draft him in our game. If he pans out under Tice, its like we had an extra 3rd round pick

[heir_jordan22]

Yes! U was hoping we would draft Massie or Brown going into the fourth round. Great pickup!

[Beith Kogans]

here's some other UDFA:

Position Name School
RB Alvester Alexander Wyoming
OT James Brown Troy
DT Ronnie Cameron Old Dominion
LB Adrien Cole Louisiana Tech
S Trevor Coston Maine
WR Terrium Crump Western Illinois
WR Brittan Golden West Texas A&M
OT A.J. Greene Auburn
S Jeremy Jones Wayne State
WR Chris Summers Liberty
LB Ronnie Thornton Southern Miss

[Magilla_Gorilla]

Both Kiper and McShay had him as a top 100 prospect. Sounds like a nice prospect for Tice to teach the Guard position to. Kid is not an athlete - but apparently is a good football player.

[emperorjones]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ze8Qeqflzjw&feature=channel&list=UL[/youtube]

[Cliff Levingston]

Well, there's plenty of undrafted FA's that have gone on to have great or even just nice NFL careers. Hopefully James Brown can play well for us (while Livin' in America).

[heir_jordan22]

here's some other UDFA:

Position Name School
RB Alvester Alexander Wyoming
OT James Brown Troy
DT Ronnie Cameron Old Dominion
LB Adrien Cole Louisiana Tech
S Trevor Coston Maine
WR Terrium Crump Western Illinois
WR Brittan Golden West Texas A&M
OT A.J. Greene Auburn
S Jeremy Jones Wayne State
WR Chris Summers Liberty
LB Ronnie Thornton Southern Miss

Too bad it's not AJ Green from Georgia. That would be nice

[molepharmer]

Good signing by the Bears. Whether Brown stays or not he was highly regarded by some. I posted this before day 3 of the draft

After searching several sites, the best available according to them....

OT
SI, CBS – Massie
CFN – Brown
FG - Sanders

DT
SI, CBS – Ta’amu
....... etc

CFN is college football news and their write-up on Brown is http://cfn.scout.com/2/1181315.html

Extremely versatile and productive, he can play any of four positions but will be first tried out at left tackle. Athletic, he moves well and shuffles fine, and he could be ready to do far more with the potential to bulk up at least 15 pounds. In the right system, and with a little work, he could be a dominant guard, but he could prove to be too valuable on the outside as long as he wants to do the little things to make it happen. While he’s good on the field, his workouts weren’t anything special and there might be a hard limit on what he can become talent-wise, but he’s coachable and he’ll do whatever is needed to find a spot. Can he be a killer? He’ll be a starter, but considering his lack of explosion he has to make up for it by ramping up the intensity.
CFN Projection: Third Round

[Chewie]

Was just thinking to myself something isn't adding up here. This guy is rated too highly on too many sites...did this guy bring a crack pipe to the combine or something? Then I read this comment in Biggs' "10 Thoughts on the Bears Draft" article: http://forums.realgm.com/boards/posting.php?mode=reply&f=156&t=1178253

"So, I called a scout I trust and asked him why the Bears and 31 other teams passed on Brown through seven rounds. He explained off-field issues that I won’t get into here because I can’t document it."

Pretty darn vauge. Not sure what to think now.

[emperorjones]

That's interesting. It's gotta be pretty bad because as we've seen, drug use just drops you one round. Lol
But so long as he isn't eating dogs & strapping puppies to the roof of his car we should be ok.

[Chewie]

Should be a doozy. PFW has him as the #8 OT. Even if he does project as on OG, that's a pretty big slide. Let's all speculate....

[Friend_Of_Haley]

Biggs wrote in the trib there are off tge field concerns, but wouldn't say what because they can't be documented.

He has a much better shot to stick if he can prove he's an OT and if Williams doesn't move back out to LT. Right now, we really have two OT.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[fleet]

I'm glad the Bears got a better than average undrafted FA, but I'd be surprised if he is better than Frank Omiyale. I don't know if I read anything that screams upside. But theres always a chance.....

sounds as if he'll be a guard at his less than ideal height too. Bare minimum he can't be worse than Lance Louis. Louis is horrible and the Bears should just get rid of him asap imo. Enoughs enough. But I digress.

Brown, combined with the 49ers guy means Bears could have added some serviceable backup interior linemen behind only slightly better than servicable starters. The Bears would also have 3 serviceable OT starters if Williams moves outside with Webb and Carimi. Williams must play tackle because Carimi is such a health question mark. The Bears may think Cutler can survive behind such mediocrity because the high quality receivers will cause defenses to play coverage more often instead of overloading the box with with defenders and extra pass rushers each and every time. Which will help the run game too. I still don't like the O-line at all but I guess something had to be the last priority. I hope they are right and Cutler survives. He'll still take too many shots.

[fleet]

Brown doing well. Weed may have been a reason he dropped out of the draft, and Brown sort of verified:

But they might just have a newcomer with a mid-round grade if James Brown, a rookie offensive lineman from Troy signed as a free agent, pans out. Two days into the rookie minicamp, he looks like he belongs.

"He has stood out in the drills," coach Lovie Smith said. "You notice him. He's slim, athletic, good size, smile on his face and he was a pretty good player in college. However (he went undrafted), we're just glad he's in our camp."

Brown got plenty of play during the draft, especially from ESPN's Mel Kiper Jr., who had him listed as his 54th best player. Kiper talked about Brown repeatedly during the later rounds but the 6-foot-4, 306-pounder never had his name called.

"I try not to think about it because before the draft, I knew things could go either way," Brown said. "I just wanted to get picked up no matter what."

Scouts from three organizations told the Tribune that marijuana was an issue for Brown and that led their teams to remove his name from their draft boards.

When asked if he wanted to address the matter, Brown said, "Could be something to that.

"I don't really want to address it. I don't have any knowledge of exactly what went on (with other teams)."

The bottom line is he is in position to compete for a job and there are examples of players who have been knocked for drug use in college and had remarkable professional careers.

So far, Brown has been used at left tackle and left guard. Smith said the Bears don't want to pin him into any specific position yet and it will be "fun" to see where he fits best. Brown started 38 games at left tackle in college but struggled a little with quickness on the edge at the Senior Bowl. Some scouts suggest he might be best on the interior.

"I feel like I have a great chance here," he said. "It's what I do with my opportunity now."

Brown had multiple free agent offers and said he chose the Bears because he was born in Chicago at St. Bernard Hospital. The Bears also didn't draft a lineman.

"That too," he said. "But I wanted to play for Chicago. This has been my favorite team since I was a little boy."

http://www.wgntv.com/sports/football/be ... 3961.story

[Chewie]

"Could be something to that."

[BIGGIEsmalls 23]

[Balance-a-Bull]

Although it is early, and without pads , hopefully the Bears have a player in Brown that could compete for the starting LT position.

The fact that he has been standing out in a positive way is a pretty good sign. Lovie likes his athleticism, so we will see.

At the very least he hopefully can push Webb and who knows maybe even win the spot.

[BIGGIEsmalls 23]

He's only 6'2". I thought that he would be groomed for OG, not LT.