Sydney Brown proves that he dominated ACL recovery in return originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Sydney Brown waited a long time for Sunday and he knew exactly how long.
That’s what made his first special teams tackle of 2024 so special.
“Dude, I’ve waited 296 f—ing days to get out there and play football,” Brown said after the Eagles’ 28-3 win over the Giants. “I knew it was going to happen. I told myself it was going to happen. It’s a tackle. You know what I mean? It’s a tackle. That’s my job. That’s what I’m supposed to do. I expect nothing less.
“Just grateful to be back out there. I love this game. When it was taken away from me for a little bit, it was messing with me a little bit. I’m grateful to be back. And excited for the future and what’s next.”
Brown, 24, made his season debut on Sunday at MetLife Stadium after a lengthy rehab process to overcome an ACL tear he suffered in that very stadium on Jan. 7 in Week 18 of his rookie season.
The turf at MetLife Stadium has snatched plenty of ACLs over the years but Brown didn’t think too much about returning to the scene of the injury. He just didn’t put too much stock into it.
“I don’t think the field has bad luck, any of that stuff,” Brown said. “I tore my ACL for a reason last year and that opportunity that I had to build a strong mindset and go through that entire process with (senior athletic trainer) Jerome (Reid). I’m very thankful for Jerome Reid and (VP of sports medicine/head athletic trainer) Tom (Hunkele) and the crew in there for doing their best with me and working with me every single day and making sure that I’m back to where I am now. I owe a lot to them and it’s just about what’s next and what I can do to help them win.”
During the week leading up to his return, Brown was convinced he “dominated” his rehab and got to show that on the field Sunday, first on special teams and then on defense.
Brown played 26 snaps on special teams (81%) and then got in the game at safety late in the game for nine snaps. He had a special teams tackle and an impressive pass breakup on defense.
“Y’all saw my boy come back this week. He was active — Sydney Brown,” veteran cornerback Darius Slay said on his Big Play Slay podcast. “He came out there and made some hella fire plays. Special teams and he got out there on defense and made an extremely crazy PBU.
“I’m going to tell y’all, y’all keep watching this kid. Y’all watch him, man. He’s going to be one of the best post safeties in the game one of these days, some way, somehow, man. Because there’s not too many post safeties that can get from sideline to sideline like Sydney Brown can. He’s really one of the fastest ones. Coming off this ACL tear and seeing how hard he been working and grinding and doing everything the right way to get back out there. He made some big time plays.”
After missing the first five games of the season, Brown made his 2024 debut on the same field where his rookie season ended. And next week has some extra meaning to him as well.
The Eagles head to Cincinnati to face the Bengals, which means facing his twin brother and best friend, running back Chase Brown.
As Sydney Brown was getting ready to leave the visiting locker room at MetLife Stadium, he was going to call his brother. The two have been extremely close their entire lives and talk every single day.
So this week is going to be a little bit weird … because they can’t really talk about football.
“I’ll see him at the end of the week and after the game and stuff. It’s just one week. It’ll be tough,” Brown said. “But that’s my guy. Somebody I talk to every single day, almost like my therapist in so many ways. It’s going to be tough. I haven’t even thought about it yet. I said earlier in the week, it’s going to be a breakup low-key. It’s going to be like a breakup between the two of us. A one-week breakup, it’ll be all right.
“We’ll both go our own ways, study our game plan, play our gam and then after we’ll be back like we never left. I’m excited for it because it’s something we’ve been looking forward to since we were little kids. It’s not surreal, we expected it, we worked for it and it’s going to be cool to have that moment with him on the field.”
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