Zach Brown

Zachary Brown (born October 23, 1989) is an American football linebacker for the Buffalo Bills of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at University of North Carolina and was drafted by the Tennessee Titans in the second round of the 2012 NFL Draft.

Early years

Track and field

Brown was a standout football, wrestling and track athlete at Columbia (MD) Wilde Lake. In track, he captured the state class 3-A title in the 100 meters, with a time of 10.67 seconds, and in the 200 meters, with a time of 21.52 seconds, becoming the first player in school history to win a state title in track. Brown graduated from Wilde Lake in 2007.

Brown also ran track and field at the North Carolina Tar Heels, where he recorded a personal best time of 6.72 seconds in the 60 meters. He also competed in the 200 meters, posting a best season time of 21.75 seconds.

Brown was also known because of his unusual size (6 ft 2 in and 248 lb) and speed for a linebacker, he also recorded a time of 4.28 seconds time in the 40-yard dash while he was at North Carolina.

Wrestling

Brown was also an accomplished High School wrestler, finishing his senior season with state, region and county championships in the 215 lb weight class. He was undefeated in his senior year with a record of 25-0. Brown finished his junior year with a record of 30-1 as a state runner-up and county and region champion, with his lone loss coming to two time state champion John Holloway of Magruder High School. As a freshman, Brown was a county runner-up in the 171 lb weight class and took third in his region. He did not place in the state tournament, finishing his freshman year with a record of 23-6.

College career

Brown graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2011. Brown spent his freshman year as a reserve linebacker and contributed on special teams. Next year, Brown started six games at weak-side linebacker and also competed on the University of North Carolina track team. As a junior, Brown placed second on the team in tackles and was captain of the special teams unit despite only starting five games. Zach Brown tallied 105 tackles (13.5 tackles for a loss), 3 interceptions, and 5.5 sacks in his senior year.

Professional career

2012 NFL Combine

Tennessee Titans

The Tennessee Titans drafted Brown in the second round (52nd overall) in the 2012 NFL draft.^[1][2][3]

On May 12, 2012, the Tennessee Titans signed Brown to a four-year, $3.85 million contract that includes $1.81 million guaranteed and a signing bonus of $1.24 million.^[4]

In the Titans final regular season game of the 2012 season, Brown returned two interceptions for touchdowns.^[5]

After the 2015 NFL season, Brown became a unrestricted free agent. He finished his Tennessee Titan's career with 261 total tackles, 10 sacks, 6 interceptions,and 2 touchdowns in 49 games.

Buffalo Bills

On April 4, 2016, the Buffalo Bills signed Brown to a one-year, $1.25 million contract that includes a $450,000 signing bonus.^[4][6]

Brown was inittially supposed to be the backup to rookie inside linebacker Reggie Ragland. He was pressed into the starting inside linebacker role after Ragland suffered a torn ACL during training camp.^[7] He started the Buffalo Bills' season opening loss to the Baltimore Ravens and finished the game with a total of 8 tackles, 4 being solo. The following week, he made a career-high 14 tackles in a 37-31 loss to the New York Jets. On October 2, 2016, Brown collected a career-high 17 tackles in a 16-0 victory over the New England Patriots.

References

External links

• Career statistics and player information from NFL.com • ESPN • Pro-Football-Reference
• North Carolina Tar Heels bio
• NFL Combine bio
• Zach Brown profile at IAAF