During their 2014 championship campaign, the New England Patriots fielded one of the NFL’s best secondaries — in large part because of the play of number two cornerback Brandon Browner. A physical presence on the boundary, Browner appeared in 12 games for the team en route to a win in Super Bowl 49. However, the defender did not return to the Patriots after the season as the team opted not to pick up his $2.0 million roster bonus.
Browner spent one more season in the league with the New Orleans Saints but never returned to his previous levels of play. But even though he has not played a game since January 2016, Browner has been in the headlines fairly often — for all the wrong reasons, though. He was arrested for possession of cocaine in 2017 and just earlier this year was arrested again and accused of breaking into his ex-girlfriend’s home and threatening to kill her.
The 34-year old was later charged with attempted murder, willful child endangerment, robbery, burglary and false imprisonment. Yesterday, as first reported by TMZ, Browner appeared in court and pled no contest to one count of attempted murder and two counts of child endangerment. The remaining charges were dropped as a result, while Browner was sentenced to eight years in state prison.
Browner originally entered the NFL as an undrafted rookie signing by the Denver Broncos in 2005. The Oregon State product did not appear in a game for the team, however, and later joined the CFL’s Calgary Stampeders which whom he won the Grey Cup in 2008 and was named All-Star three times. Browner later rejoined the NFL as a member of the Seattle Seahawks’ famed Legion of Boom defense.