Bills Fanatics Player Profile: Is Preston Brown the Real Hero of the Buffalo Bills Defense?

Ryan Lasal - Powered by Random Voice Archives
Jun 29, 2015
2 min read

Coming out of the 2013 NFL season, all of the buzz at linebacker centered around young phenom Kiko Alonso, who finished with 159 tackles, 4 INTs, 2 sacks and 2 fumble recoveries as a rookie. One can argue, however, that Alonso’s rookie year, while spectacular as a whole, was simply average following the Buffalo Bills week 6 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals. Despite that, much of the hype going into the 2014 season was about how Alonso would evolve in his second season and first under Jim Schwartz. Lost in the excitement of the off-season was the drafting of a young linebacker out of Louisville in the 3rd round. No one would have guessed that linebacker would come to lead the team in defensive snaps, tackles, and be the best cover linebacker on the roster. That linebacker would play so well that it made the aforementioned Alonso expendable. The Bills would later find out how expendable by trading Alonso to the Eagles for LeSean McCoy. Preston Brown finished his Louisville career with 301 total tackles and averaged over 100 tackles per season in his final two seasons with the Cardinals. He was still available in the 3rd round, where Buffalo drafted him with the 73rd overall pick. NFL.com projected him as a pick in round 4-5, so some saw the pick as a bit of a reach, but his rookie campaign would turn his skeptics into believers. Brown entered his rookie season as a starter as a result of Kiko Alonso’s knee season ending knee injury. He stepped up early with 7 tackle in the first game of the season. Preston Brown would go on to lead the team in tackles with 109, good enough for 23rd in the league and second among rookies behind 1st round pick CJ Mosley. The most impressive stat of Brown’s rookie year was his 1057 total defensive snaps played, which also led the team. Not only did he lead the team, but he finished with over 100 snaps more than the next player on the list, Aaron Williams. By comparison, his running mate last year and this coming season, Nigel Bradham, finished with 831 total snaps. He led the team in tackles. He led the team in defensive snaps by a wide margin. He brought stability to a position that many Bills fans felt would be a weakness after the loss of Alonso. But most importantly, he allowed the front office at One Bills Drive to feel confident that Kiko Alonso was expendable, and pull of the blockbuster trade that brought one of the best Running Backs in the league, LeSean McCoy, to Buffalo and make the team a legitimate contender in the coming 2015 season. Preston Brown may not just be the real hero of the 2015 Bills defense, he just might be the real hero of the entire 2015 Bills team.