Jonathan Bernard Brown (born November 28, 1975) is a former professional American, Canadian and

Arena football Indoor American football, or arena football, is a variation of gridiron football played at ice hockey-sized indoor arenas. While varying in details from league to league, the rules of indoor football are designed to allow for play in a smaller ...

defensive lineman, who last played for the

BC Lions The BC Lions are a professional Canadian football team based in Vancouver, British Columbia. The Lions compete in the West Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL), and play their home games at BC Place. The Lions played their first seas ...

of the

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ci ...

. He has also played for the

Toronto Argonauts The Toronto Argonauts (officially the Toronto Argonaut Football Club and colloquially known as the Argos) are a professional Canadian football team competing in the East Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL), based in Toronto, Ontario ...

. He was drafted by the Green Bay Packers in the third round of the

1998 NFL Draft The 1998 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 18–19, 1998, at the Theater at M ...

. He played college football for the

Tennessee Volunteers The Tennessee Volunteers and Lady Volunteers are the 20 male and female varsity intercollegiate athletics programs that represent the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, Tennessee. The Volunteers compete in Division I of the National Collegi ...

. He is currently the head coach for his high school alma mater, Booker T. Washington High School. Brown was also a member of the

Denver Broncos The Denver Broncos are a professional American football franchise based in Denver. The Broncos compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The team is headquar ...

Berlin Thunder The Berlin Thunder were a professional American football team in NFL Europe. History The Thunder came into existence as an expansion team, after the London/England Monarchs franchise shut down operations, prior to the 1999 season. Home games ...

St. Louis Rams The St. Louis Rams were a professional American football team of the National Football League (NFL). They played in St. Louis from 1995 to the 2015 season, before moving back to Los Angeles, where the team had played from 1946 to 1994. The arr ...

Amsterdam Admirals The Amsterdam Admirals were a professional American football team based in Amsterdam, Netherlands, playing in the NFL Europe. History The Admirals were formed in 1995 as part of the NFL's plan to restart the World League of American Football, to ...

Washington Redskins The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) N ...

and

Indiana Firebirds The Indiana Firebirds were a team in the Arena Football League. The team was based in Indianapolis, Indiana. Home games were played at the Conseco Fieldhouse, also the home of the Indiana Pacers of the National Basketball Association and Indiana ...

College career

A 15-tackle, 5-sack game made him a standout Booker T. Washington High School in

Tulsa Tulsa () is the second-largest city in the state of Oklahoma and 47th-most populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 census. It is the principal municipality of the Tulsa Metropolitan Area, a region with ...

, Oklahoma. Brown was an All-State defensive lineman and accepted a scholarship to

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

. He played at UT from 1994-97 for Tennessee, where he was a 1997 All-SEC selection, a teammate of Peyton Manning and helped the Volunteers win the SEC title in 1997. His 13.5 sacks that season rank second in Tennessee history and his 27.5 career sacks rank fourth.

Professional career

Pre-Toronto Argonauts

Brown was drafted by the Green Bay Packers in the third round of the

. As a rookie in 1998, Brown recorded 10

tackles Tackle may refer to: * In football: ** Tackle (football move), a play in various forms of football ** Tackle (gridiron football position), a position in American football and Canadian football ** Dump tackle, a forceful move in rugby of picking u ...

and a fumble recovery during the pre-season and then played in four games during the season but did not record a stat. After initially making the Packers final roster in 1999, he was released on September 1. Brown signed with the

and joined their practice squad in December 1999. He finished the season on the active roster but never made an appearance. After the 1999 season, Brown signed with the

for the 2000 NFL Europe season. He led the NFLE with 10 sacks, 30 tackles and two forced fumbles. After the season, he was named the NFL Europe Co-Defensive

MVP In team sports, a most valuable player award, abbreviated 'MVP award', is an honor typically bestowed upon an individual (or individuals, in the instance of a tie) whose individual performance is the greatest in an entire league, for a particu ...

. During the 2001 offseason, Brown signed with the

and later joined their practice squad. On October 23, he was signed to the Rams active roster and helped the Rams make a Super Bowl appearance against the New England Patriots. For the season he totaled three appearances with no recorded stats. He was released in September 2002. Brown was drafted in the first round of the 2003 NFLE Free Agent Draft by the

. For the season he posted a team high 6.5 sacks and 26 tackles and was named All-NFL Europe.

Toronto Argonauts

He signed with the

on May 27, 2004 and became a starting

defensive end Defensive end (DE) is a defensive position in the sport of gridiron football. This position has designated the players at each end of the defensive line, but changes in formations over the years have substantially changed how the position is ...

for Toronto. He started 16 games and missed two due to injury. His debut for the Argonauts came against the

Saskatchewan Roughriders The Saskatchewan Roughriders are a professional Canadian football team based in Regina, Saskatchewan. The Roughriders compete in the Canadian Football League (CFL) as a member club of the league's West Division. The Roughriders were founded in ...

in the first week of the 2004 season. In his debut he recorded five tackles. Arguably his best game of the year came in Week 17 against the

where he recorded four sacks and added seven tackles on defense. Against the

Montreal Alouettes The Montreal Alouettes (French: Les Alouettes de Montréal) are a professional Canadian football team based in Montreal, Quebec. Founded in 1946, the team has folded and been revived twice. The Alouettes compete in the East Division of the Canad ...

in the CFL East championship he had two tackles and recovered one fumble. In the Grey Cup he had five tackles in a Toronto win. Brown re-signed with the Argonauts for the 2005 season on June 16. He was named a CFL All-Star and an East Division All-Star after recording 13 sacks to finish second in the CFL. Brown started in all 18 games for Toronto all at defensive end. In week 4 of the season he recovered a fumble that turned into his first career CFL touchdown. Against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in week 11 he recorded his second highest sack total in a game with three. Three weeks later against

Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...

he had three tackles and two sacks. In a rematch against Montreal in week 16 he recorded a sack against Alouettes

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

Anthony Calvillo Anthony Calvillo (born August 23, 1972) is the quarterbacks coach for the Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League (CFL) and is a former professional Canadian football quarterback. He was professional football's all-time passing yards ...

which resulted in a

safety Safety is the state of being "safe", the condition of being protected from harm or other danger. Safety can also refer to the control of recognized hazards in order to achieve an acceptable level of risk. Meanings There are two slightly dif ...

. Once again, Toronto faced Montreal in the CFL East championship game and Brown recorded two tackles in the Argonauts loss. For the second straight season, Brown was named a CFL East All-Star in 2006. He led Toronto in sacks with six and for the second straight year he started all 18 games. Brown recorded three tackles, two sacks and was a runner up for the defensive player of the week during week five. He caught his first career

interception In ball-playing competitive team sports, an interception or pick is a move by a player involving a pass of the ball—whether by foot or hand, depending on the rules of the sport—in which the ball is intended for a player of the same team ...

against Hamilton in week 12. He returned the interception for 29 yards. For the third straight year Toronto appeared in the playoffs. In the CFL East semi-final game, Brown recorded two tackles in the overtime win over

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749, ...

. Against Montreal for the third straight year he had two tackles in Toronto's second straight loss in the division championship. On January 10, 2007, Brown signed a contract extension through 2008. He was named CFL East Most Outstanding Defensive Player of the Year for the first time in his career. He was named a CFL All-Star for the second time in his career and a CFL East All-Star for the third time. He was also nominated as an All-Time Argo at the defensive end position. Adding to his awards he was named a CFL Pro Players All-Star for the first time in his career. Brown tied a career-high with 13 sacks which was second in the league. In week three he had two tackles, two sacks, one forced fumble and a fumble recovery which led to a Toronto touchdown. Against Montreal in week six he had six defensive tackles, one special teams tackle and a sack. He had four tackles and a sack in week nine against Hamilton. Brown was named a CFL East All-Star for the fourth year in a row in 2008 and was named East Division Most Outstanding Defensive player. Also for the fourth straight year he led the Argonauts in sacks with seven. Against Winnipeg in Week 1, he had three tackles and a sack. Brown recorded four sacks, a sack and a fumble recovery against Edmonton in week six. After recording two sacks in week six against Winnipeg he passed

Harold Hallman Harold Hallman (December 10, 1962 – December 23, 2005) was a Canadian Football League defensive tackle who played eight seasons in the CFL, mainly for the Toronto Argonauts. Hallman was a four-time All Star and won a Grey Cup with Toronto in ...

for most sacks in Toronto Argonauts team history. In the last game of the year against Saskatchewan he recorded six tackles.

BC Lions

On August 19, 2010, it was announced that Brown had signed with the

References

External links

Toronto Argonauts profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brown, Jonathan 1975 births Living people People from Chickasha, Oklahoma Players of American football from Oklahoma American football defensive ends Tennessee Volunteers football players Green Bay Packers players Denver Broncos players Berlin Thunder players St. Louis Rams players Washington Redskins players Amsterdam Admirals players Indiana Firebirds players Canadian football defensive linemen Toronto Argonauts players BC Lions players African-American players of American football African-American players of Canadian football 21st-century African-American sportspeople 20th-century African-American sportspeople