Eagles Safety Could Face Uphill Climb To Start, Maybe To Even Stick Around

If Sydney Brown didn’t possess all the qualities that fit the Eagles’ definition of a red star player, if the safety didn’t have a twin brother he could open with about all his successes, concerns, and anxieties, he might be nervous right now.

Brown was drafted in 2023, a year before Vic Fangio took his seat in the defensive coordinator’s chair. He was hampered by an ACL rehab that didn’t go as well as hoped, but he returned in Week 7 and then suffered a concussion in Week 15. In between those games, he didn’t play much defense.

It makes you wonder: would the Eagles have drafted him if Fangio was running the D a year earlier? The DC didn’t exactly shower Brown with praise when he was asked about Brown’s “experience.”

“Well, his experience came in '23, not '24,” said Fangio. “Last year at this time, he wasn't doing anything and didn't do anything really until the middle of October. So he lost all this time of year, training camp, early part of the season, and really never got many reps with us defensively.”

He got 79 to precise, a stark drop from his rookie year when he was on the field for 335 snaps (29 percent) and made two starts. His 99-yard interception touchdown return in a New Year’s Eve game against the Cardinals seemed to signal great things ahead.

“He did play in the last game against the Giants and did fine, but it's a new system from what he had in '23,” said Fangio. “So yes, he's sitting in meetings, but that only goes so far. You've got to get out there and experience it and build on it, and he lost that last year, so he's going through that process now and he's doing fine.”

The Eagles drafted another safety in the second round, Drew Mukuba. Fangio probably had an influence on that pick, so “doing fine” may not cut it for Brown in a battle with the rookie to start, or even Tristin McCollum, who got defensive reps ahead of Brown last year.

Brown isn’t wired to worry. He was the first player the Eagles publicly identified as a “red star” player, which is a prospect who has exceptional character, someone who personifies something more than just talent but leadership, intelligence, work ethic, and the way they carry themselves on and off the field.

It’s the kind of person one tends to become when they grow up in poverty, the way he, his twin brother Chase, who is a running back for the Bengals, sister, Mya, and mother, Raechel, did, living in an estimated 20 homes and shelters before turning 16.

Brown is always upbeat, always willing to talk at his locker no matter the topic. Even last year, when his ACL rehab didn’t go as well as planned and then when he finally made it back on the field in Week 7, there wasn’t much of a role awaiting him on defense. Then, he suffered a concussion in Week 15 vs. the Steelers.

Then came the ACL tear on the terrible turf at MetLife Stadium in the regular-season finale against the Giants.

“I feel like his mental was great,” said safety Reed Blankenship. “You’re around a guy that goes through something like that, your first thought is, ‘You’re going through it, he’s negative,’ but no, you all seen him.

“He’s on the side when he was hurt. He’s getting the mental reps, and you couldn’t tell if he was going through anything negative at all. He stayed positive through it all. He was always there to ask questions. It’s hard to be there when you have something like that, but he was in it physically and mentally.”