In just his second year in an offense that's been tough for young receivers to master, Brown has developed into a playmaker for the Philadelphia Eagles.
He doesn't have several nicknames (Freddie Mitchell) or make headlines with outrageous comments and flamboyant celebrations (Terrell Owens), but he has a knack for long gains and finding the end zone.
Selected from Georgia with the 35th overall pick in the second round of last year's draft, Brown had a solid rookie season after becoming a starter when T.O. was kicked off the team. He set a team rookie record with 43 catches for 571 yards and four TDs.
``All I want is an opportunity to make plays,'' Brown said Thursday. ``Coming into the season, I had confidence in what I do. Whatever my role is, I try to do it to the best of my ability.''
Brown has 21 receptions for 412 yards and four touchdowns in six games. He also has a rushing TD. His average of 19.6 yards per catch is third-best among receivers with at least 250 yards and he's tied for fifth in total TDs.
At 6-foot-1 and 197 pounds, Brown is built more like Jerry Rice (6-2, 200) than Owens (6-3, 224). But he's a workout junkie who spends extra time in the weight room improving his strength so can break tackles and gain yards after catches.
Brown turned a 20-yard pass into a 60-yard TD against New Orleans last week, and already has three other catches of at least 31 yards.
``He'll work as hard or harder than anybody on this team at what he does,'' coach Andy Reid said. ``He's hard to tire out.''
Brown was slated to be the No. 1 receiver coming into the season, but the Eagles acquired Donte' Stallworth from New Orleans less than two weeks before their opener in Houston.
Stallworth, a former first-round pick, had an impressive debut with six catches for 141 yards and one score against the Texans and followed that with another solid performance in Week 2 against the Giants. But he has missed three of the last four games with a hamstring injury and Brown has become Donovan McNabb's big-play target.
``All the talk about the receiving corps needing help before I got here, I knew what they can do,'' Stallworth said. ``I knew the player Reggie was before I came here. He's a playmaker.''
Brown no surprise was among the players who joined McNabb for offseason workouts in Arizona the past two seasons. It's certainly helped their timing and chemistry.
``I've always said that he has that big-play capability,'' McNabb said. ``He runs great routes, catches the ball well and yards after the catch is important. He's just a guy that really feels comfortable, just wants an opportunity to catch the ball and when the opportunity is there, he takes full advantage.''
The Eagles haven't had much success drafting receivers in the early rounds since Reid arrived in 1999.
Mitchell, a first-round pick in 2001, is the most notable bust. The loquacious Mitchell had more nicknames ``FredEX,'' ``First-down Freddie,'' ``The People's Champ,'' and ``Hollywood'' than big catches in his four seasons in Philadelphia, and has been looking for a job since he was cut by the Eagles after the 2004 season.
Billy McMullen, a third-round pick in 2003, had 22 catches in three seasons before he was traded to Minnesota for undrafted rookie Hank Baskett.
Fourth-round picks Na Brown (1999) and Gari Scott (2000) never panned out.
Only Todd Pinkston, a second-round pick in 2000, became a full-time player for the Eagles. Pinkston started 61 games from 2001-04, but never had more than 60 catches, 798 yards or seven TDs in a season.
``I don't want to get into comparisons,'' Reid said. ``I just say that Reggie is a good football player. I don't want to take anything away from anybody else. They all had their moments. Reggie is doing a heck of a job. He works very hard and he's a smart kid.
``He knows what he is doing against all the different coverages. It's not that he is seeing things for the first time. He understands how we put things in and what that does is it has given him confidence. You see his stop-start ability, it is better than it was last year because he knows how to attack defenses.''
Brown had 144 catches for 2,008 yards and 12 TDs in four years at Georgia. He was chosen with the pick the Eagles acquired in the trade that sent quarterback A.J. Feeley to Miami. Feeley is back with the Eagles after short stints with the Dolphins and San Diego.
http://accesswdun.com/article/2006/10/102038