The New York Giants hired Brandon Brown as their assistant general manager to Joe Schoen this offseason.
Brown’s hiring was part of a house cleaning in East Rutherford as the Giants try to wipe away their culture of losing.
Brown, 33, was recently with the Giants’ rivals, the Philadelphia Eagles. There he was the team’s director of player personnel in 2021 and oversaw the pro scouting department. Now with Big Blue, Brown likes to say he provides “football solutions.”
“The biggest word I use is ‘football solutions’ where it’s overseeing pro personnel department, the college scouting department and also just being the checks and balances with Joe (Schoen) on the football operations side,” Brown told reporters on Friday. “So, for me it’s just creating synergy through all of our supporting departments and our primary scouting departments.”
In this expanded role for the 33-year-old, he will be keeping some of his same duties as he continues to help in the scouting department while also helping to for continuity between the new members of the organization. In terms of his scouting duties, Brown described what he looks for in prospects.
“Biggest thing first is guys are smart, tough, dependable. When I say smart, guys are instinctive. Guys, regardless of their physical traits, they’re assignment sound. They’re not having busts,” Brown noted. “When I say tough, guys that are finishing off plays; guys that are competing on special teams. When you talk about dependable, guys are available to you, one. Guys that have a known track record of not missing time. Guys — whether it’s offense, defense, special teams — they answer the bell on all three phases or all two phases, whatever they’re asked to play. So, that’s the ground layer.”
If you can’t do those things, you shouldn’t be on the field in Brown’s mind.
“Listen, you can have all the physical tools you want, but if you don’t know your assignment, you can’t get on the field. If you don’t know your assignment, you can’t be trusted. I think we talk about being smart, knowing your assignments, also being able to react quickly, pick up things quickly. If you’re not trustworthy, you can’t play,” he said.
Big Blue has been missing some smart, tough and dependable football players over the last few seasons. Hopefully for New York, Brown can help to change the culture by building up the guys that are here and bringing in some new players that fit this mold.
