Ji'Ayir Brown 2023 NFL Draft profile: Scout report for the Penn State SAF

Ji’Ayir Brown, Penn State: 5’11”, 205 pounds; JR

A three-star JUCO recruit in 2020, Ji'Ayir Brown primarily worked on special teams his first year with the Nittany Lions.

He became the starting safety alongside Jaquan Brisker in 2021, when he put up 61 solo tackles, six interceptions (one returned to the house), five PBUs, a fumble forced and two recovered. This past season, Brown put up career-highs in total tackles (74), TFLs (seven), sacks (4.5) and forced fumbles (two), along with four more picks. That surprisingly only amounted to third-team All-Big Ten in both years.

Ji'Ayir Brown scout report: Strengths

J.J. McCarthy #9 of the Michigan Wolverines is tackled by Ji'Ayir Brown #16 of the Penn State Nittany Lions

+ Received high praise from his DC Manny Diaz for his physicality and the pride he takes in being a menace against the run.

+ Great size for any role in the secondary, with more than adequate ability to hold his own in condensed areas.

+ Actively approaches blockers with a punch and is looking to come off those quickly.

+ You’re not going to take care of him in the run game if you draw up one of your slot receivers blocking him one-on-one, as they don’t even want to put their hands on him.

+ Gets involved in car-crash collisions in the hole after racing up from depth.

+ Has plus instincts at sorting through the trash and getting to the ball-carrier working up into the box to create stops in the run game, more so in the fashion of a linebacker.

+ Provides tremendous chase speed across the field and you see knock ball-carriers out of bounds that by alignment you wouldn’t think he could get his hands on.

+ Penn State was running a lot of split-safety coverages, where Brown’s aggressiveness at driving on routes could really shine.

+ However, he was regularly trusted in the deep middle, with good enough range to be an asset – spent a career-high 345 snaps in deep coverage last season.

+ Covers ground in a hurry when flying down on underneath completions as a deep zone defender.

+ When he’s allowed to buzz down and sees somebody turn for a flat route, he can absolutely light that guy up out there.

+ Deployed as a robber quite regularly, where his ability to track the eyes of the quarterback and make up ground to targets around him is a big plus.

+ Recognizes quickly when inside targets curl up over the middle or break across the field and he has a chance to attack those, even making some tight-ends go straight back and to the ground at contact.

+ Had a tremendous interception in the end-zone of the 2022 Outback Bowl against Arkansas. He was basically unassigned as the boundary safety, as there was no threat by the single receiver and he flew all the way across the field to the opposite numbers. There was also another easy one thrown right towards him, getting over the top of a WR double pass.

+ From limited snaps covering in man as a slot defender, you see patience and ability to lock into the hips of guys across from him, being right there against curl routes on multiple occasions.

+ When guys break away from his initial alignment, he makes sure to get his hands on the target and stay attached.

+ On 57 targets across these past two seasons, Brown has been responsible for less than 400 yards and all three touchdowns came in 2021, compared to ten combined picks.

+ Last season, that amounted to an (NFL) passer rating of just 56.3.

+ Ferocious blitzer, who doesn’t mind crashing into offensive linemen who outweigh him by a good 100 pounds.

+ There’s very few around 200-pound safeties that college coaches happily bring up the A-gap – Ji'Ayir Brown is one of them.

+ Recorded 15 total pressures across 51 pass-rush opportunities this past season.

Ji'Ayir Brown scout report: Weaknesses

Ji'Ayir Brown #16 of the Penn State Nittany Lions reacts after intercepting KJ Jefferson of the Arkansas Razorbacks

– Running a disappointing 40 of 4.65 at the combine, you question what type of range Ji'Ayir Brown can provide playing the deep post and getting out wide. Plus you do see him give too much ground at times when he’s gaining depth from his initial alignment.

– Can be moved by the quarterback’s eyes or allow himself to get locked in on one target in zone, getting himself out of position for nearby routes.

– You rarely saw Brown be asked to play any type of man-coverage by the Nittany Lions coaching staff and on most of those snaps he had held over the top, being able to squat on routes to some degree.

– His aggressiveness can border on being reckless at times, with his approach from depth, getting burnt on a couple of angles, and how he throws his body around.

– Doesn’t consistently break down in space when he becomes the last line of defense, and his pursuit angles in general are rather inconsistent – missed 14.0% of his tackling attempts over the last two years.

Ji'Ayir Brown scout report: Grade

Ji'Ayir Brown #16 of the Penn State Nittany Lions returns an interception against the Northwestern Wildcats

There’s definitely a theme with this safety class, where I really enjoyed watching these guys during college season and later on tape, but there are some athletic concerns show up under the microscope.

With Ji'Ayir Brown, those worries showed up to a larger extent, whether he had to drift too deep, got run around after thinking he could be more aggressive with his angles from deep alignments or how little he was put in isolated situations versus speed. That, combined with a pretty high missed-tackle rate is what I’m concerned about.

Now, with that in mind, I do still believe Ji'Ayir Brown can be a valuable starter, if you run a quarters/cover-six heavy scheme or maybe deploy him regularly as a robber (because of how quickly he can click-and-close on routes and the punch he packs when he arrives there).

If he can become more dependable at getting people to the ground, the way he charges into action against the run along with that, he could become a tone-setter for his future team. He’s the last name of this list that I certainly think should absolutely go ahead of day three.

Grade: Third round

You might like other 2023 NFL Draft Scouting Reports: Tyree Wilson (EDGE), Texas Tech; Will Anderson Jr. (EDGE), Alabama; Jaxon Smith-Njigba (WR), Ohio; Zay Flowers (WR), Boston; Jordan Addison (WR), USC; Jordan Addison (WR), USC; Quentin Johnston (WR), TCU; Zach Charbonnet (RB), UCLA; Bijan Robinson (RB), Texas.

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