Despite his large frame, Brown has an excellent first step on the kick slide, setting up for pass protection quickly. He takes proper angles on the slide to prevent wide rushes, as does a nice job of getting his feet up and down well, consistently mirroring his man on outside or inside rush moves. Smaller ends have little chance of staying upright vs. Brown, who is very adept at extending his arms to throw his man off balance if he senses any let-up.
The Cardinal has gone from adequate-to-good with his field awareness, thanks to gaining reps at left tackle, as he seemed more comfortable picking up blitzes and stunts the second half of the 2014 schedule. He’s the type of player who finds his assignment as a second-level run blocker, and the type that will provide help to the inside blockers when he can. He knows how to hand off defenders when flowing to one side as a zone blocker.
You have to be impressed by his toughness, as Brown works to the whistle and plays with a mean streak. He has a mauler mentality in the run game and in pass protection he plays with great balance, mirror-and-slide ability and awareness. While his feet are a notch below elite, but he gets set quickly in pass protection and is capable of consistently getting set wide and shutting down the perimeter vs. speed rushers. He has long arms and big hands, which he uses well to keep separation and sustain. As a drive blocker, he takes solid angles and shows good initial pop. He has long arms and a strong upper body to control defenders. He’s big and shows above-average strength as a drive blocker, consistently reaching the second level on time and shows the ability to hit the moving target. The only knock is that he occasionally struggles to lock on and sustain, which can be rectified with better hand usage in most instances.
