Undrafted Safety Steals Show on Packers Family Night

“Me and him talked about it,” he said. “I don’t think the quarterback saw me; I kind of snuck behind him. So, we both went up for the ball and I came down …”

That’s when McKinney serenaded Brown with “MVP.”

“Yeah,” Brown continued, “I just went up for the ball – we both went up for it and I just came down with it.”

After the series, Brown went to the sideline. McKinney walked over to him, put his arm around him and gave him a brief talk.

“After his third one,” McKinney said, “I just said, ‘Just stay consistent. Stay focused.’ Because as you make those plays, everybody’s patting you on the back, but you’ve still got to understand, you’re still trying to make the team. You know what I mean? But I think tonight really separated him for making that statement of making that 53-man. So, I’m proud of him, and I can’t wait to continue to just see him grow and I’ll be happy to see him once we get into our regular preseason games.”

Brown played his college ball at Northern Iowa and Nebraska; he intercepted six passes for UNI as a freshman in 2019. He went undrafted in 2024 but was given $245,000 guaranteed by the Broncos. When he was released at the end of training camp, he signed to Green Bay’s practice squad, where he spent the entire season and played in two games at the end of the season.

“He’s definitely a guy we had our eye on coming out in the draft process,” coach Matt LaFleur said after practice. “We had him in for a 30 visit, so certainly there was some like there for him. To get him engrained in our system and to watch him develop, grown and develop, has been pretty exciting. He’s making plays.”

The year in Green Bay was “huge” for his growth, he said. In two games, he played eight snaps on defense and 16 on special teams, but week after week at practice got him comfortable in the scheme and to life in the NFL.

“We’ve got a lot of older guys – people that got a lot of experience,” he said. “So, really, I feel like that was good for me. Really just seeing how everything was going to be, having X, having Evan (Williams), just being behind this group of safeties is really just big leadership. The whole defense, honestly, but I’d say that my position group, we've got a lot of leaders.”

Brown is part of perhaps Green Bay’s deepest position group. All of last year’s safeties – McKinney, 2024 draft picks Javon Bullard, Evan Williams and Kitan Oladapo and special-teams standout Zayne Anderson – are back. So, he faces an uphill climb to make the roster, though three interceptions are obviously a giant leap in the right direction.

“He's a stud,” Anderson said. “He attacks every day like a true pro. He's always wanting to get better and he's always asking questions which I think is the first thing and he does his job, which clearly tonight, he gets those interceptions. He deserves it, man. He works his butt off and it's cool seeing guys in the room the fruit come from their labor. Everybody in the room is super-pumped for him.”

What will be the key going forward?

“Just continue to stay the course,” McKinney said. “Don’t get too high, just kind of stay even-keeled, keep making plays because, at the end of the day, the more plays that you continue to make, the more impressions and statements you make on your peers in the locker room and the coaches and, obviously, the upper management. So, that’s going to be my advice to him. He’s a pretty level-headed guy, he’s a consistent guy, so I have no doubt he’ll just continue to keep chopping it down every single day.”

For Brown, there’s no secret to his success.

“I think just running to the ball,” he said. “Even when the ball’s all the way from us, we’re just running to the ball and it’s going to come to you, I feel like. That’s pretty much what I did. Whether that’s being in the post, waiting for the ball to come, just running to the ball and I feel like it’s going to come that way.”

Brown said his mother, grandmother and uncle were in Green Bay for Family Night. He was looking forward to connecting with them and going out for dinner.

“It felt good,” he said. “I got my family out there, so it definitely feels good to make plays in front of them. Most importantly, it’s just being out there playing defense. It’s my first Family Night, so just being in front of the crowd and making plays is super-fun.”