James Harold Brown (born January 5, 1967) is a former professional

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

player who played in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL) as a

cornerback A cornerback (CB) is a member of the defensive backfield or secondary in gridiron football. Cornerbacks cover receivers most of the time, but also blitz and defend against such offensive running plays as sweeps and reverses. They create tur ...

for 12 seasons for the

Miami Dolphins The Miami Dolphins are a professional American football team based in the Miami metropolitan area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member team of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The team pla ...

Pittsburgh Steelers The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional American football team based in Pittsburgh. The Steelers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) North division. Founded in , the Steel ...

Arizona Cardinals The Arizona Cardinals are a professional American football team based in the Phoenix metropolitan area. The Cardinals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) West division, and play t ...

, and

Detroit Lions The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) North Division. The team play their home games at Ford ...

. Brown is the only son of a Washington, D.C., police officer.

Early years

Brown attended

DeMatha Catholic High School DeMatha Catholic High School is a four-year Catholic high school for boys located in Hyattsville, Maryland, United States. Named after John of Matha, DeMatha is under the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington and is a member of the Washington Ca ...

and then went to

University of Maryland, College Park The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the University System of Mary ...

and played

defensive back In gridiron football, defensive backs (DBs), also called the secondary, are the players on the defensive side of the ball who play farthest back from the line of scrimmage. They are distinguished from the other two sets of defensive players, the ...

. He was coached by

Bobby Ross Robert Joseph Ross (born December 23, 1936) is an American former football coach. He served as the head football coach at The Citadel (1973–1977), the University of Maryland, College Park (1982–1986), the Georgia Institute of Technology (1 ...

and

Joe Krivak Joseph John Krivak (March 20, 1935 – December 25, 2012) was an American football player and coach. He served as head coach for the Maryland Terrapins football, Maryland Terrapins football team from 1987 to 1991, where he compiled a 20–34–2 ...

. Brown played in the 1985 Cherry Bowl. The University of Maryland was part of the

Atlantic Coast Conference The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) is a collegiate athletic conference located in the eastern United States. Headquartered in Greensboro, North Carolina, the ACC's fifteen member universities compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Associa ...

in 1985.

Professional career

Miami Dolphins

Brown was drafted by the

in the 12th round (315th overall) of the

1989 NFL Draft The 1989 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 23–24, 1989, at the Marriott Marq ...

. His first year contract was about $65,000 in 1989. He was coached by

Don Shula Donald Francis Shula (January 4, 1930 – May 4, 2020) was an American football defensive back and coach who served as a head coach in the National Football League (NFL) from 1963 to 1995. The head coach of the Miami Dolphins for most of his ca ...

and played for Miami for eight years. Shula cut three other cornerbacks—rookie David Holmes, his fourth-round pick, and veterans

Don McNeal Donald McNeal (born May 6, 1958) is a former American professional football player who played cornerback for the Miami Dolphins in the 1980s. McNeal was born and raised in Atmore, Alabama. He is a 1976 graduate of Escambia County (Alabama) High ...

and Bobby Watkins–but Brown made the team. In 1992, Brown played in the 1992 AFC Championship but Miami lost to the

Buffalo Bills The Buffalo Bills are a professional American football team based in the Buffalo metropolitan area. The Bills compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. ...

. In 1994, Brown started all 16 games and had 71 tackles and three interceptions. Brown was the starter for many years in Miami, but lost his job in 1996 to Calvin Jackson and to open the salary cap.

Pittsburgh Steelers

In 1997, the Pittsburgh Steelers picked up Brown, and he played one season for them. Coached by

Bill Cowher William Laird Cowher (born May 8, 1957) is an American sports analyst, former football player and coach. Following a six-year playing career as a linebacker in the National Football League (NFL), he served as a head coach in the NFL for 15 seas ...

to an 11-5-0 record, they finished first in AFC Central Division. The Steelers traded Brown August 28, 1998, to the Arizona Cardinals.

Arizona Cardinals

Brown played one year for the Arizona Cardinals, coached by

Vince Tobin Vincent Michael Tobin (born September 29, 1943) is an American football coach and former college player who was the head coach of the Arizona Cardinals of the National Football League (NFL). During his four decades of coaching, he served as de ...

, finishing second in NFC East Division. The Cardinals won the NFC Wild Card game against (

Cowboys A cowboy is a professional pastoralist or mounted livestock herder, usually from the Americas or Australia. Cowboy(s) or The Cowboy(s) may also refer to: Film and television * ''Cowboy'' (1958 film), starring Glenn Ford * ''Cowboy'' (1966 film), ...

) 20-7 despite being called the greatest fluke teams of all time because they went 9-7 despite getting outscored by their opponents 378–325.

Detroit Lions

Brown signed with the

July 19, 1999, when

was the head coach and the following year under

Gary Moeller Gary Oscar Moeller (; January 26, 1941 – July 11, 2022) was an American football coach best known for being head coach at the University of Michigan from 1990 to 1994. During his five seasons at Michigan, he won 44 games, lost 13 and tied 3 f ...

. He finished his playing career with the 30 tackles in 16 games for the Lions.

Life after football

Brown is the director of sports performance and training for Grassroots Football League. In 2013, the National Football League started The Legends Community. Brown is the Northeast Coordinator Legend Ambassador to lead the outreach.

Personal life

Brown is married to Renee, and they have four children.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brown, J. B. 1967 births Living people American football cornerbacks Arizona Cardinals players Detroit Lions players Maryland Terrapins football players Miami Dolphins players Pittsburgh Steelers players People from Hyattsville, Maryland Players of American football from Maryland Players of American football from Washington, D.C.