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Cincinnati Bengals Zero-Snap Spotlight: Chris Brown

By Kenn Korb

GLENDALE, AZ - JANUARY 01: Wide receiver Chris Brown
GLENDALE, AZ - JANUARY 01: Wide receiver Chris Brown /
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Continuing to analyze the Cincinnati Bengals roster with the Zero-Snap Spotlight series, looking at wide receiver Chris Brown.

The Zero-Snap Spotlight series continues in the offseason, going deep into the Cincinnati Bengals roster to highlight players that many may not be aware of. Every player put in the spotlight has been in the league for some amount of time, but is alike in having not played a single NFL snap.

So far, we’ve taken a deep dive into the following players: Andrew Billings, Marcus Hardison, David Dean, Ryan Brown, Tra Carson, Alonzo Russell, and Jake Kumerow.

To continue this series, I look at another wide receiver, Chris Brown.

Brown has had an anonymous career to this point. He was brought in as an undrafted free agent by Dallas after the 2016 draft, but never made their active roster due to an injury sending him to IR. After the season, he was released, but Cincinnati picked him up off waivers in February.

They must have seen something they liked from his college career. While he never put up the standout statistics which tend to equate to getting drafted (probably part of why he didn’t), he was a consistent option and steadily improved in each of his four years at Notre Dame. In his final year, he put up 597 yards on 48 catches and caught four touchdowns.

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There were plenty of nonplussed descriptors for his strengths in his NFL.com draft profile (decent, occasional, “does his job”), but others stood out well enough (crisp/quality routes) that combining it all could form a useful player.

The bigger factor to his addition, however, was likely the state of Cincinnati’s receiving corps at the time he was claimed. Remember, things were quite unsettled. The offense as a whole had taken a step back in 2016, with the passing game being a major reason. A.J. Green was coming off an injury which ended his season early. Brandon LaFell was set to be a free agent. Tyler Boyd was the only receiver with a significant 2016 role left besides them. There were lots of other names on the roster at the position, but none had yet proven to be anything close to a lock.

In the following months, the outlook at the position has changed drastically. LaFell was brought back on a two-year contract, and both John Ross and Josh Malone were added in the 2017 draft. With a healed Green, plus Boyd in his second season, that’s five receiver spots already accounted for. If he’s lucky, the team will decide to go with seven receivers this year, but it’s still a fairly uncommon occurrence at this juncture. That means there’s likely just one spot to earn for about a half-dozen guys.

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Compared to some of the others, Brown’s chances may be decent for that slot. Due to the skill sets assembled, players like Jake Kumerow and Alonzo Russell may be at a disadvantage. Their strengths (height and red-zone related) and potential roles are already held by Green, tight end Tyler Eifert, and newcomer Malone. Another of his competitors, Cody Core, has already experienced an injury this offseason, and that could hamper his hopes.

Even if those players are counted out, though, there’s still a tough road ahead to overcome the others. Alex Erickson has already received regular season snaps with the offense. Karel Hamilton and Marty Madaris are UDFAs who either have a larger cache of college production (Hamilton) or could have more untapped potential (Madaris).

Then, consider Brown’s weaknesses. A thin frame. Inconsistent hands. Getting open by design rather than skill. Few explosive plays. Just looking at those makes him appear like he needs a strong offense around him to succeed.

None of that should be a death knell to his hopes — there are countless guys who don’t carry offenses that find quality roles within the right systems — but it does leave the door wide-open for anyone who can show a semblance of doing that stuff in stretches. While steady players are littered throughout the league, those are the exact players teams always try to replace. Once they acquire a player with a higher ceiling — especially for the back-end roster types — that steady guy tends to be shown the door.

Next: NFL Power Rankings 2017: Best players by jersey number

It will be hard for Brown to stick around over the experience and presumed potential evident in those he’s competing against, but there’s time for his consistency to win out. If it doesn’t, he’ll just have to find another team looking for that sort of skill-set.

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