Why Seahawks TE Pharaoh Brown likes how he fits into new offense

Aug 5, 2024, 10:15 AM

Seattle Sports

The Seattle Seahawks’ Pharaoh Brown doesn’t know why tight ends are notorious for being weird, but he agrees the assertion is true.

“I’m not sure, that’s a loaded question. Because I’m just being myself,” Brown told us on Seattle Sports’ Bump and Stacy.

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The 30-year-old former Patriot signed with the Seahawks in free agency to help replace the departures of Colby Parkinson and Will Dissly. While Seattle turned around and chose to make a larger investment in Noah Fant, the addition of the veteran Brown and rookie AJ Barner make for a competitive group.

The latter pair are new faces to a team that has plenty of new faces on the coaching staff, including atop the offense. Former Washington Huskies offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb assumes the same role under Mike Macdonald’s new staff in Seattle.

Brown attended Tight End University – created by fellow NFL tight ends George Kittle, Travis Kelce, and Greg Olsen – with the goal of “bringing the tight end community together.”

“Man, it was great,” Brown said of the experience. “The way they put it together from the start, it was like a Fortune 500 company. You get three, four cases of gear, cowboy boots. You’ve got Greg Olsen, T-Kelce, Kittle, Kittle’s dad, all running it and giving great insight, going over film.”

Here’s hoping the cowboys boots and valuable insight translate into a solid year for Brown, who joins a Seahawks offense that’s hoping to be much more explosive. And while Grubb was adept at opening up the pass game for an elite collection of receiver talent with the Huskies, he’s not limited to creativity with the pass game.

“What I like most is probably that the run game is easier for me,” Brown said. “K-9 (Ken Walker) is more of a wide-zone, stretch-and-cut (running) back. I’ve always had the downhill back.

“So for me, that’s a big 300-pound man standing over me and there’s no one coming to help me,” Brown continued with a laugh. “And I had to move this man by myself. Now I can use some of my speed and footwork because I want to get him running, to put it in simple terms. It’s kind of like getting that man on a hill and now I can push him a little bit and have gravity help instead of having him just leaning all over me. It’s a rough life for us tight ends.”

As for where Brown can help most, my co-host Michael Bumpus pointed to yards after catch. Brown’s average of 9.3 yards after catch was second among all tight ends last season. And though he saw limited targets with New England, he made the most of those, with no drops and five receptions of 20 or more yards.

“I remember coach this offseason asked what’s your game, and I was just like ‘grit,'” Brown said. “Run game, pass game, it’s the same thing. That’s just grit. You’ve got to catch that ball. That’s just how I feel when I catch the ball, like nobody’s tackling me.”

Hear the entire conversation with Brown in the video at the top of this post, the podcast at this link or here on the Seattle Sports YouTube channel. Brown talked more about grit, told us what was the most uncomfortable game he’s played in, and shared stories about his life outside of football.