The Jets recently acquired cornerback Jarvis Brownlee Jr. in a trade with the Tennessee Titans. Today we break Brownlee down in detail.
The 24-year old Brownlee is listed at 5’10” and 194 pounds and was a fifth round pick out of Louisville last April. Brownlee started 14 games in his rookie season and the first two of this year, but was acquired by the Jets in exchange for a day three pick swap last week.
Background
Brownlee was a three-star high school recruit who enrolled at Florida State in 2019. He redshirted his first year, although he did play four games and registered one tackle.
In 2020, he started four of eight games and had the first interception of his career, along with 26 tackles. Then his role increased in 2021 and he started 11 of 12 games, racking up 51 tackles and two picks, one of which he returned for a 70-yard touchdown.
After the 2021 season, he transferred to Louisville where he started all 13 games and had career-highs in tackles (66) and pass breakups (12), along with two interceptions.
In 2022, he was named honorable mention all-ACC despite missing three games due to injury. He started 11 and had 30 tackles, six pass breakups and an interception.
After missing his combine workout due to injury, Brownlee’s pro day workout was underwhelming and questions over his size and attitude were ultimately cited as the reasons why he ended up falling to the fifth round after some analysts had viewed him as a day two talent. The Titans selected him with the 146th overall pick.
As a rookie, Brownlee started off in a rotational role but made his first NFL start in week four and remained as a starter for the rest of the season. He was among the NFL rookie leaders with 75 tackles and nine pass breakups, adding one interception.
He began 2025 as a starter as well but missed the third game of the season due to injury and was then traded to the Jets. He was inactive for Monday night’s game with the same injury but is apparently “week to week” so he should be in the line-up soon.
Let’s move onto some more in-depth analysis of what Brownlee brings to the table as a player, based on extensive research and film study.
Measurables/Athleticism
Brownlee’s size and length are average at best, but he has good strength, having worked hard at that aspect of his game between 2022 and 2023.
His pro day numbers were disappointing as he only ran 4.54 in the 40-yard dash and posted below average explosiveness numbers and mediocre agility numbers.
Usage
Brownlee has experience of playing both in the slot and outside. Although some analysts felt his lack of size would make him a better fit in the slot, he’s mostly played outside at the NFL level. However, he did play full time in the slot in two games last year, so he has done it at this level. Within either role, he is often employed in press coverage.
Coverage skills
Brownlee posted excellent coverage numbers in college, as he gave up a catch on just 52 percent of his targets. However, he was prone to giving up big plays with at least one of 40 yards in each of his last four seasons and an average of almost 16 yards per catch and 15 touchdowns allowed.
At the NFL level, he allowed a catch on less than 60 percent of his targets last year with a lower average of 11 per catch and three touchdowns. So far this year, he’s allowed just 59 yards and a touchdown on 10 targets.
As noted, he has given up big plays at times, lacking the long speed or recoverability when his man gets a step on him.
However, his positioning and ability to stay with his man are impressive, as he stays balanced coming out of his transitions and anticipates well.
Ball skills
Brownlee has had pretty good on ball numbers during his career, highlighted by 2022 when he was fifth in the ACC with 12 pass breakups. He never had more than two interceptions in a season in college, though.
He had nine pass breakups in his rookie season, showing competitiveness at the catch-point and good timing.
His lone interception at the NFL level came on a wayward pass that he reacted well to come up with. He did have another impressive leaping interception negated by a penalty though.
Tackling
Brownlee is a willing and productive tackler who takes pride in his tackling and views it as one of his best traits. He comes downhill aggressively and can close and hit hard.
His tackle efficiency has been good both in college and at the pro level, although he does still miss the occasional tackle from time to time.
He has only forced one fumble in his combined college and pro career.
Physicality
Brownlee is renowned for his aggressive style. Whether jamming at the line, competing for the ball or leaning on his man downfield to re-route him, he really gets after it in coverage, even against larger opponents.
As noted above, he is a good hitter and attacks ball carriers aggressively. He also isn’t afraid to take on much bigger blockers and shows good strength to take on blockers his own size.
At times, he can be too physical when in coverage and can be known to panic and grab. He has 12 penalties in his 19 NFL appearances, including three in two games this year. Six of those were for illegal use of the hands, illegal contact or defensive holding and four were for defensive pass interference.
Strangely, though, this was less of a concern in college where he only had 11 defensive penalties in his entire career.
Run defense
Brownlee is eager to get involved in run stopping situations and, at times, has been over-eager, losing contain on a bounce-out. He seems to have played with more discipline at the pro level though, so hopefully that habit has been coached out of him to a degree.
He shows good anticipation to look for opportunities to come up and get involved in run support and has the quickness to shoot gaps into the backfield.
As noted, he is adept at taking on blockers but also has the ability to beat a blocker before he can get his hands on him.
Blitzing
Brownlee hasn’t blitzed very often over the course of his career but could be effective at this if he got more chance to do it because of his tackling ability.
He didn’t register a single pressure last year but had two in the season opener this year, including one where Bo Nix threw an interception as he was getting to him. In college, he had just one sack but recorded a pressure on several other plays.
Special teams
Brownlee played special teams for the first few games of last year, including getting some reps as a gunner and vice, but as soon as he moved into the starting line-up, this was no longer the case. He did make a couple of tackles in preseason action though:
In college, he had experience on every unit apart from the placekicking unit and had 11 special teams tackles and three special teams penalties in his career.
Instincts/Intelligence
Brownlee’s highlight reel has plenty of examples of him blowing plays up in the flat. Again, this speaks to his aggressive nature and eagerness to come up and make plays near the line. However, he also displays solid play recognition and teams don’t seem to have been able exploit any over-eagerness on his part very often.
He’s shown good versatility to play both inside and outside without much disruption and was on the ACC honor roll in college.
Attitude
Brownlee’s attitude has been a concern, which factored into his decision to transfer out of Florida State and his lower than expected draft position. He looked to have put aside these concerns by earning a starting job and having a productive rookie season, but the same concerns are also believed to factored into the Titans’ decision to trade him.
Quotes from multiple NFL scouts from before and after he was drafted use words like “baggage”, “cancer”, “high-maintenance” and “drama” with one describing him as a “nut” who was basically the defensive back version of George Pickens. One incident saw him refuse to practice at Florida State because he wasn’t happy with his NIL money.
Titans beat writer Jim Wyatt also mentioned some things behind the scenes that he wouldn’t go into detail about but apparently would have been likely to have led to a trade, if true.
On the field, despite his high penalty count, it’s worth noting that he doesn’t have any penalties for taunting or unsportsmanlike conduct at the NFL level. His only two personal fouls were for grabbing the facemask. However, when asked how he might adjust his play to prevent penalties being called on him earlier this year, his response was that he thought he played well, and this apparent unwillingness to change his style has been cited as a reason for the Titans opting to move on from him.
Simply put, he might be considered uncoachable by some. However, it’s worth noting that the Jets’ defensive backs coach is Chris Harris, who coached Brownlee in Tennessee in his rookie season. Clearly Harris must be confident he can get more out of Brownlee, otherwise this deal would never have been made.
Injuries
Brownlee is currently week to week with an ankle injury that kept him out of his last game with the Titans and his potential first game with the Jets. He was reportedly in a walking boot at one point but it doesn’t sound likely he’ll be out for much longer.
He also had an ankle injury when he was due to work out at the 2024 combine and missed three games with a foot injury in 2023.
Scheme Fit
The Jets have said they have a plan for Brownlee, who – as noted – has been coached by Harris in the past. With Brandon Stephens, Michael Carter II and Sauce Gardner all currently on contracts worth over $10 million per year it makes you wonder how he’s going to fit. Have they already given up on Stephens after fan criticism which began as soon as he was signed and shows no signs of slowing down through the first month? Or could the plan be to move Stephens back to safety?
It may just be that the Jets saw an opportunity to add a talented guy they’ve liked for a while for a low price and were prepared to make the move and worry about how the pieces all fit over the next few weeks and months.
He was a college teammate of current Jets Jermaine Johnson and Lawrance Toafili, and was also a teammate of Nick Folk with the Titans.
Conclusions
Brownlee is an interesting addition at a position where the Jets already have an interesting mix of veterans and youngsters. However, Aaron Glenn knows the cornerback position and clearly thinks Brownlee adds some talent that could make the overall secondary stronger.
Many Titans fans were shocked that they let him go, given the fact that they are a rebuilding team and he was one of their more promising youngsters, but obviously there is a personality or style clash on some level which made it easy for them to decide he’s not part of their future.
As to whether he can be part of the Jets future, the cost of bringing him on board was not prohibitive, but he’s known to be a handful and if they sense he’s having a negative influence on their culture, they may be compelled to cut their losses too. Hopefully being traded and reunited with Harris is something Brownlee will see as a fresh chance so he will approach the opportunity like a pro.
He could be a steal if he lives up to his potential, so it’s a worthwhile gamble for a team in the Jets’ situation.
