Backer Against A Wall Brown Adjusts To Defense, Expectations With Seahawks

When Chad Brown accepted a $7 million signing bonus and a six-year, $24 million contract from the Seattle Seahawks in February, the enormous expectations might as well have been included in the fine print.

He likes the money. He’s not wild about the expectations.

As Brown races from right end toward the quarterback, detrimental thoughts creep into his mind. He’s thinking about what others are thinking about him.

A bit analytical by nature, that’s not healthy.

“I’m having a hard time with (expectations) right now,” Brown admits.

“I’m pressing, doing things I don’t normally do.

“It has kind of affected my pass rush. I want to get to the quarterback every play instead of taking my time to set up an offensive tackle. Sometimes it takes two, three, four plays.”

Even for a $24 million man.

Do not be misled. Brown sounds like the only one worried. Seattle is plenty satisfied with Brown, a rush end/linebacker, through threeplus weeks of training camp. At rush end, he is an absolute speedster. At linebacker, he has sprinted the width of the field to track down halfbacks at practices in Cheney.

“He’s upgraded us speed-wise a lot,” coach Dennis Erickson said. “He’s a football player.”

Not the fastest player, but close. Not the strongest, but stalwart. Not the meanest, but tenacious.

Mixed together, the 6-foot-2, 240-pound Brown is a rare talent. He can cover a running back on pass plays and speed around a 300-pound offensive lineman.

“We looked at every linebacker that was a free agent and our staff felt he was the top linebacker and Michael Barrow was second,” defensive coordinator Greg McMackin said. “He makes plays.”

Contributing to Brown’s temporary uneasiness is the fact that he’s still adjusting to a new defense. Seattle’s only slightly resembles Pittsburgh’s. As a Seahawk, Brown will rush in certain passing situations. Otherwise, he’ll play outside backer.

“We’re still trying to get me comfortable in a sense,” Brown said. “Last year I was on the line all the time, on the right side, and my job was to create havoc in the backfield whether it was a run or pass. Here it’s a lot different, so there’s going to be some transition involved.”

He has established high standards. He was third in the AFC and fourth in the NFL with 13 sacks a year ago. He started in the Pro Bowl.

“He gets to the quarterback so quick,” said Seahawks cornerback Willie Williams, a teammate of Brown’s last year in Pittsburgh.

“Every time you see him he’s at full speed.”

Speed is Brown’s specialty.

He isn’t sure why his feet motor so swiftly, but he has theories. One stretches back to high school in Altadena, Calif. The football coach also was the track coach.

“John Muir High School is the only high school in the track hall of fame,” Brown said. “It’s a really hilly city and one of my coaches did a paper for his doctorate about how it being such a hilly city helped us get faster. When you run up hills, it gives you power. When you run down hills, it increases your stride because you have to move your legs faster going down.

“We played football on streets that were slanted. We played basketball on driveways that were slanted. That was his theory. I don’t know how accurate that is.”

Sounds believable. Brown ran the 330 low hurdles, a damnable test of speed and endurance. At Colorado, he was a four-year starter in football and two-time All-Big Eight.

But his interests go far beyond football.

“This is such a temporary job,” he said. “Yeah, while you’re doing it you have to give it your all, it’s got to be your focus. But there’s so much more to life than this. It’s important to have other interests and be based in reality and not fantasy.”

For Brown, outside interests begin with his family, wife Kristin and one-year-old daughter Amani.

“It definitely grounds you,” he said. “You learn that it’s no longer about you, it’s about them. In a sense, you aren’t even important any more. All those things my mother said, I find myself saying those things now. It’s pretty funny.”

Amani’s arrival signaled the end of Brown’s impromptu practice sessions in the house. He used to work on rush moves against Kristin.

“I’ve kind of gotten away from that the last couple years,” Brown said. “Last year she was pregnant and this year she’s always holding our baby.”

Brown’s unique business venture also deals with babies. He operates Boulder, Colo.-based Pro Exotics, which breeds and sells non-venomous snakes and reptiles.

Why?

“It’s a pretty fascinating industry,” he said. “Animals don’t let you down. People lie to you, they disappoint you, deceive you.

“It’s not like selling TVs. You put TVs on a shelf and somebody buys them and you send them on their way.

“With reptiles, you’ve got to buy the babies, raise them, hopefully they’ll breed. It’s a 5-, 6-year deal before you really become successful at it. I’m in my fifth year and things are definitely cranking for us.”

Coincidentally, he’s entering his fifth year in the NFL. He’s cranked out four good years and plans on many more.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: 2 Color photos

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: CHAD BROWN FILE Career stats for 6-2, 240-pound end/linebacker Chad Brown, who joined Seattle in the off-season:

Year Team Games T T/gm Ast Ast/gm Sacks Yds Sacks/gm 93-94 Pit 16 43 2.7 26 1.6 3 0 0.2 94-95 Pit 16 90 5.6 29 1.8 9 75 0.6 95-96 Pit 10 20 2.0 10 1.0 6 40 0.6 96-97 Pit 14 50 3.6 31 2.2 13 103 0.9 Total Pit 56 203 3.6 96 1.7 31 218 3.9 Notes: Brown has three career interceptions, including two for 20 yards in returns last season for the Pittsburgh Steelers. He has not scored a touchdown in the regular season.