For many players, getting traded is (understandably) a frustrating and stressful experience. But for new Jacksonville Jaguars defensive tackle Malcom Brown, who the team acquired from New Orleans in exchange for a seventh-round pick, that couldn’t have been further from the truth.
This week, Brown told the media he knew his time with the New Orleans Saints, who had to clear nearly $100 million in cap space this offseason, was running short. When he found out he was coming to an up-and-coming team like Jacksonville with an exciting new regime, he was thrilled.
“…I was ecstatic,” Brown said last week. “I heard what coaches were here and what direction they were going in and like I said, I was happy. I already knew the situation I was in over in New Orleans, I already knew they had to get under cap space, I already knew it was over. So, I mean, just doing that, keeping that mind. I just wanted to attack the offseason, wherever I’m going to be, I’ll be the best version of me. Like I said, when the trade happened, I was on the phone, I was happy, I was running around the house. It doesn’t matter where the program was last year, it’s about what we do next year.”
Considering all it took to bring Brown into the building was a seventh-round pick, the trade was a bit of a steal. He’s still got a lot left in the tank at just 27, and he’s been a consistent starter throughout his career, both with the New England Patriots and Saints. He’s started 80 of the 89 games he’s appeared in since being the final pick of the first round back in 2013.
Brown is coming off a season in which he started all 13 games he played. He missed some time in November with injuries, and that resulted in a career-low in tackles with 27, though he did manage a sack on the year.
Now, he joins a Jaguars defensive front that desperately needed help on the interior last season. He will be a major part of the rotation in 2021, if not a starter.
Though the excitement surrounding coach Urban Meyer and probable incoming quarterback Trevor Lawrence certainly had an affect on Brown, there’s another layer that makes this marriage all the more exciting for him.
Brown’s college head coach, Charlie Strong, was hired this offseason as the Jaguars assistant head coach and inside linebacker coach. Strong was the defensive coordinator at Florida when the school hired Meyer in 2005, and he chose to retain the experienced assistant, who remained on staff until he took the Louisville head coaching job in 2009. Brown said a reunion with Strong was one of the things that excited him most about coming to Jacksonville.
“I know how (Strong) coaches and what he’s about,” Brown said. “It’s just this energy level that he brings. It just brought back flashbacks of college and how we were, and I got very excited once I heard that and just to see him again.”
It’s not often a successful player is this optimistic about being traded, but it goes to show both the reputation Meyer has in the football world and the belief that players in the league have in this young roster.