Arizona Cardinals: Jaron Brown stepping up

The Arizona Cardinals fourth-year receiver making his case to be in the mix

When your competition is sitting out or is injured, what do you do in preseason? If you are Arizona Cardinals receiver Jaron Brown, you are stepping up your game.

Brown once again showed why he needs to be a Cardinal once the 53-man roster is finalized the first week of September. Brown was almost a forgotten man.

Last season Brown did not manage to make many plays. Only one play in the game against the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday Night Football comes to mind from Brown’s 2015 season.

Against the Chargers, Brown had two receptions for 40 yards. One reception was an amazing grab on what appeared at first to be an errant Carson Palmer throw. That reception went for 23 yards. He made his other grab for 17 yards. That one wasn’t easy either.

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Brown didn’t have a catch in the loss to the Raiders in preseason week one, however he has been making a lot of plays in camp practice. He is taking advantage of the absence of receiver John Brown who has been out of action since suffering a concussion in practice on July 31st.

My early predictions had Brown competing with guys like Brittan Golden and Jaxon Shipley for the last receiver slot. Golden really hasn’t shown much. Shipley has been getting a lot of play the first two games.

On Friday night, Shipley was targeted a team-high seven times, catching three passes for 18 yards. Shipley has dropped a couple of easy ones though. That could end up being the difference between keeping Brown over Shipley.

Receiver J.J. Nelson hasn’t played particularly well either, which also helps Brown’s case. Nelson should make the team but if Brown plays better, not only does Brown make it but likely slides ahead of Nelson on the depth chart.

There likely won’t be much movement on the depth chart this week but if the performance stays consistent, then Brown will be in a Cardinals uniform on September 11th.

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