“I always stayed in touch with him and just told him to keep being the person he is, keep being the player he is,” Brownlee said. “I kind of spoke it into existence that he was going to get drafted here.”
Ponds gave Brownlee a “brother” in the CB room. The rookie has been dealing with a calf strain which has sidelined him for the start of training camp, but HC Aaron Glenn said he will be back soon.
“I’m glad that he’s here,” Brownlee said. “He’s a great person, he’s a baller man, he’s a dude and our relationship is close. We push each other each day. I try to feed him gems of things that I was taught in the past and that I know now. I try to learn from him as well, too.”
The CB competition is strong in camp with Brandon Stephens and Azareye’h Thomas also having early noteworthy performances, and Brownlee says they “love it.”
“We got a lot of guys that can play, a lot of dudes that play with grit, that play with that dog mentality,” he said. “So, just to have somebody that you know is ready to compete and push you every day I think everybody in that room loves that.
“More than anything we push each other to be great. That’s all we expect. It’s a certain standard that we hold each other to, and a certain accountability that we go by.”