Special teams tells you what kind of safety Sydney Brown will be

It was impossible to watch the hit Sydney Brown delivered to force an Austin Trammell fumble on Sunday without thinking ... "Wow, wouldn't he look good at safety."

Brown timed it perfectly and made a ferocious but legal hit on Trammell moments after he fielded a Braden Mann punt inside the Jaguars' 20-yard-line just 3 1⁄2 minutes into the game.

Kelee Ringo recovered and two plays later Jalen Hurts gave the Eagles a 7-0 lead with a 20-yard touchdown pass to Saquon Barkley, the Eagles' first 1st-quarter points since December.

We saw enough of Brown at safety last year before he shredded his knee in the last game of the regular season to know he can play. He got 335 snaps on defense as a rookie, almost all of them the last 11 weeks of the season. And he had that 99-yard pick-6 off Kyler Murray before the Eagles blew that game against Arizona.

But if anyone forgot what a promising prospect Brown is, that play Sunday no doubt reminded them.

Tough. Smart. Physical. Violent. Instinctive.

"I tell everybody on special teams, 'My sole goal is for you to start on offense and defense,'" special teams coach Michael Clay said Tuesday. "'I want you to be the best possible player you can be whether that's starting on special teams and you get that promotion to offense and defense.'

"It's one of the greater things I can feel as a coach. You can see that from Reed Blankenship in his third year. Now he's the starter. He played a lot of special teams for us.

"I had (one-time Eagles) Raheem (Mostert) in San Francisco (on special teams) and became the starting running back. I hope (Brown) gets to play that starting spot, but until that happens we're very, very happy to have him on special teams."

That play Sunday was the Eagles' first takeaway on special teams in five years, since Duke Riley recovered a muffed kickoff return by Adam Shaheen of the Bears at the Linc in 2019.

Defensive coordinator Vic Fangio has certainly noticed Brown's play on special teams.

"I think for inside linebackers and safeties, if they are not good special teams players, they are probably not going to be good inside linebackers or safeties, either," he said Tuesday.

"NaVorro Bowman, his rookie year, which I wasn't there with him, didn't play any defense but tore it up on special teams, and then the next year when I got there, he started tearing it up on defense."

The problem for Brown is that the Eagles already have two established starting safeties.

Blankenship, a one-time undrafted free agent, has been solid in his second year as a starter, and the Eagles brought C.J. Johnson-Gardner back this year and although his play has been uneven, he's only a year into a three-year, $27 million contract.

Brown can play in the slot, but Cooper DeJean has that spot locked up.

Fangio found Brown 12 snaps in mop-up duty against the Browns and Giants, but there really aren't many opportunities for him to get on the field on defense. He didn't play any snaps Sunday.

So special teams is where he's going to have to make his mark for now.

So far so good.

In addition to his pick-6 last year and Sunday's forced fumble, Brown forced a fumble in the first Dallas game last year, stripping CeeDee Lamb on the final play of the game.

He's the first Eagles safety with three takeaways in his first 17 career games since Nate Allen in 2010 and 2011.

His forced fumble Sunday came in only Brown's third game since he tore his ACL against the Giants on the MetLife turf that has a habit of shredding knees.

That's what makes all of this so compelling. A lot of guys would just be working their way back at this point. Brown worked so hard at his recovery he was able to pick up right where he left off.

"From an outside looking in at him, his rehab is astonishing just how much preparation and hard work went into it to get back as soon as he possibly can," Clay said. "He had just tore that ACL in January and to come back and (be) running in September or October?

"You could kind of see himself still believing in that knee getting back in that third game on grass and going out there and making a huge play and he's going to keep getting better and more comfortable with special teams."