Versatile Cameron Brown Hopes to Expand His Repertoire on Giants' Defense

Cameron Brown was extremely versatile at Penn State. He's looking to become even more versatile now that he's with the Giants.

Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports

Giants linebacker Cameron Brown can do a lot of things for a defense.

He can line up at the weak-side linebacker. He can play the boundary and the strong-side backer spots too, the latter position, he said, being just like an NFL nickel backer.

He can even line up as a middle linebacker and blitz if you need him to.

The one thing though he hasn’t done during his college career at Penn State that he hopes he might get an opportunity to cross-train to take on some defensive line tasks.

To do so, Brown would have to cross-train with Giants defensive line coach Sean Spencer, who happened to be the defensive line coach and, since 2018, associate head coach at Penn State during Brown’s time there. 

LISTEN | Linebacker Cam Brown talks about his versatility and how he was deployed at Penn State.

Brown is excited at the prospect of getting to work with Spencer, who was initially supposed to work with Brown as a defensive end before he became more of a stand-up linebacker, again.  

“Coach Spence is my guy,” Brown said during a conference call Tuesday with reporters. “I was going to be recruited as a d-end, so we had a relationship. He came to see me all of the time during recruitment in high school. It’s grown and blossomed. I feel like I became one of the guys he could trust on the defense, and he’s one of the guys that I trusted him to go to with problems or things like that.”

Brown, the Giants' sixth-round pick, appreciates Spencer’s intensity and coaching style, which he described as motivational.

“Yeah, Coach Spence--we used to call him the ultimate motivator,” Brown said. “He’s going to get guys riled up. His coaching style is energetic; he’s out there with you, he’s going to run around, he’s going to crack jokes with you. He’s going to yell at you, and he’ll get on you hard, but you know it’s coming from a loving place.”

It’s not yet known how Giants head coach Joe Judge is going to structure the practice sessions when they eventually do begin for the year, but Brown believes that there are specific drills that Spencer taught at Penn State that can benefit players at the pros.

“With Coach Spence, certain days we had hunger drills where it was like each day, you’re working out on things coaches feel like we need this week, like maybe tackling, maybe handwork, pass rush. Coach Spence was always there to correct those pass rush moves and things like that. I hope and pray we can get some more cross-training there, so I keep up that relationship with him.”

Spencer isn’t the only one-time Nittany Lion with whom Brown is looking to reconnect. He’ll be reunited with running back Saquon Barkley and cornerback Grant Haley, both of whom Brown has sought advice regarding life in the Big Apple.

“With Say (Saquon) and Grant, it was more so I was asking them for a little advice, just bouncing quick ideas off them real quick. But I’m pretty sure more communication will go on as long as this goes on, as long as we’re away from each other,” he said.