Noah Brown (American football)

Noah Brown (born January 6, 1996) is an American football wide receiver for the Houston Texans of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Ohio State and was selected by the Dallas Cowboys in the seventh round of the 2017 NFL draft.

Early years
A resident of the Flanders section of Mount Olive Township, New Jersey, Brown attended Pope John XXIII Regional High School in Sparta, New Jersey. He missed his sophomore season after breaking his ribs in the first game. As a junior, he had 41 receptions for 630 yards and six touchdowns.

As a senior, he recorded 41 receptions for 857 yards, 14 receiving touchdowns and 7 rushing touchdowns, helping his team reach the Non-Public Group III final and receiving All-New Jersey honors by the Newark Star-Ledger. He committed to Ohio State University to play college football. He finished with over 3,000 all-purpose yards and 42 touchdowns, after playing at wide receiver, running back and kick returner.

Brown was a highly sought after prospect that received many offers from Virginia Tech, Notre Dame, Penn State, Michigan State, Pittsburgh, and USC. He had multiple visits to Columbus in 2013 and opted to shut down his recruiting early and commit to Ohio State five months before National Signing Day.

College career
As a true freshman in 2014, he played in all 14 games in a backup role, including the 2015 College Football Playoff National Championship victory over Oregon. He had one reception for nine yards and one run for a 4-yard loss, while playing wide receiver, H-back and special teams.

The next year, he excelled in spring practice and was expected to earn the starting wide receiver job, until suffering a broken left tibia and fibula late in fall camp during a non-contact drill, forcing him to redshirt for the 2015 season. The injury was serious enough to require two separate surgeries.

As a sophomore in 2016, Brown returned and started in all 13 games. He had 32 receptions (second on the team) for 402 yards and 7 touchdowns (tied for the team lead). In the third game against the University of Oklahoma, he tied a school record with 4 receiving touchdowns, while totaling 5 receptions for 72 yards. After the season, he decided to forgo his remaining two years of eligibility and enter the 2017 NFL draft.

Pre-draft
On January 7, 2017, Brown announced via Twitter that he decided to forgo his senior season and enter the NFL draft. Many analysts were surprised he decided to enter the draft and opt out of his last two years of remaining eligibility, due to his limited experience as a one-year starter and his low draft projection. He was one of 58 collegiate wide receivers to attend the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis, Indiana. Brown chose to only perform the three-cone drill, short shuttle, and bench press. He tied for second in the bench press behind Shepherd's Billy Brown who had 23 reps, but ended up playing tight end in the NFL.

On March 23, Brown attended Ohio State's pro day along with Marshon Lattimore, Gareon Conley, Raekwon McMillan, Curtis Samuel, and five other prospects. He performed the 40-yard dash, 20-yard dash, and 10-yard dash as scouts and team representatives from all 32 NFL teams looked on, including head coaches Bill Belichick (New England Patriots), Mike Tomlin (Pittsburgh Steelers), Hue Jackson (Cleveland Browns), Mike Mularkey (Tennessee Titans), Sean Payton (New Orleans Saints), Jim Caldwell (Detroit Lions), and Marvin Lewis (Cincinnati Bengals). At the conclusion of the pre-draft process, Brown was projected to be a fifth or sixth round pick by NFL draft experts and scouts. He was ranked as the 27th best wide receiver prospect in the draft by NFLDraftScout.com.

2017 season
Brown was selected by the Dallas Cowboys in the seventh round (239th overall) of the 2017 NFL draft. He was the 31st wide receiver drafted in 2017, and the second wide receiver selected by the Cowboys after North Carolina's Ryan Switzer. Cowboys' owner Jerry Jones stated that running back Ezekiel Elliott was one of the main reasons they drafted Brown, after Elliott continually advocated for his former Ohio State teammate. On May 11, 2017, the Cowboys signed Brown to a four-year, $2.47 million contract that included a signing bonus of $71,938.

Throughout training camp, Brown competed for a roster spot as the fifth or sixth wide receiver on the Cowboys' depth chart against Brice Butler, Lucky Whitehead, Andy Jones, and Lance Lenoir. Head coach Jason Garrett named Brown the sixth wide receiver on the Cowboys' depth chart, behind Dez Bryant, Terrance Williams, Cole Beasley, Butler, and Switzer.

He made his professional regular season debut in the Cowboys' Week 2 loss of 42–17 at the Denver Broncos. The following week, he made his first career reception during the Cowboys' 28–17 victory at the Arizona Cardinals. His reception came off a pass by quarterback Dak Prescott and he gained 13 yards before being tackled by Tyrann Mathieu. On November 19, Brown caught a pass for a season-long 14 yards during a 37–9 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles.

His contributions came from blocking downfield for the running game and on special teams, where he used his 6–2, 225-pound frame to his advantage. In Week 16, his blocking ability secured his first career start in the Cowboys' 21–12 loss to the Seattle Seahawks, as the offense opened with 3 receivers. He finished his rookie season with four receptions for 33 receiving yards in 13 games with one start. He was declared inactive in 3 contests.

2018 season
Brown missed most of training camp and preseason with a hamstring injury. On September 3, 2018, he was placed on injured reserve. On November 9, he was activated off injured reserve. He started in the last 2 games of the season.

He was mostly used for his blocking abilities, appearing in 8 games with 2 starts, while registering 5 receptions for 54 yards and 5 special teams tackles (seventh on the team).

2019 season
Brown began training camp on the physically unable to perform list, because of an offseason arthroscopic knee surgery. On August 31, he was left on the PUP list, where he spent the rest of the season. In November, he had a second surgery performed to alleviate his lingering knee issue.

2020 season
Brown slimmed down to be more involved in the passing game, but the team's depth at wide receiver kept him mostly in a blocking and special teams role. In Week 4 against the Browns, he had 4 receptions for 43 yards.

In Week 12 against the Washington Football Team, he made 3 receptions for 40 yards. He appeared in all 16 games with one start, posting 14 receptions for 154 yards and 2 special teams tackles.

2021 season
On March 17, 2021, Brown re-signed with the Cowboys. He was declared inactive for the season opener against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, after being activated from the Reserve/COVID-19 list the previous day. He had 2 receptions for 47 yards against the Patriots. Although he started against the Kansas City Chiefs, substituting Amari Cooper who was placed on the Reserve/COVID-19 list, he wasn't able to record any offensive stats and dropped 2 passes.

He had 6 receptions for 53 yards against the Las Vegas Raiders on Thanksgiving Day. On December 9, he was placed on injured reserve with a groin injury. He was activated on January 1, 2022. He appeared in 13 games with one start, making 16 receptions for 184 yards and 3 special teams tackles.

2022 season
On March 8, 2022, Brown re-signed with the Cowboys. He came into training camp leaner and quicker, to take advantage of the additional snaps available at the wide receiver position; Cooper was traded, Cedrick Wilson Jr. left in free agency and Michael Gallup was still in the process of recovering from an offseason ACL surgery.

He made 5 receptions for 68 yards in the season opener against the Buccaneers. In the second game against the Bengals, he collected 5 receptions for 91 yards, his first career touchdown and made a 12-yard reception on the final drive that helped set up the game-winning 50-yard field goal. He didn't play against the Chicago Bears because of a foot injury. He had 4 receptions for 85 yards against the Houston Texans.

Brown's production as a receiver slowed as the season went on, contributing to the Cowboys' decision to sign veteran T.Y. Hilton on December 12. The former caught 6 receptions for 49 yards and 2 touchdowns against the Jacksonville Jaguars, but he also dropped a potential first-down reception; this gave the Jaguars the chance to mount a final drive and set up the winning field goal. In the last 3 contests of the season, he posted 3 receptions for 22 yards.

He appeared in 16 games, registering career-highs in starts (13), receptions (43), receiving yards (555), yards per reception (12.9) and touchdowns (3). He also tied for fifth on the team with 4 special teams tackles.

Houston Texans
On March 17, 2023, Brown signed a one-year contract with the Texans. He was placed on injured reserve on September 13, and was activated on October 14. In a Week 10 game against the Bengals, Brown had his best career game, catching 7 passes for 172 yards as the Texans won 30–27.

Noah would play for five more games, accumulating 12 catches for 128 yards and a TD to end the season. Receiving a playoff target, Brown was unable to add to his postseason stats, playing only five snaps. On January 15, 2024, Brown was put on IR after suffering a shoulder injury on the second drive of the game.

On March 15, 2024, Brown re-signed with the Texans.

Regular season
! style="text-align:center;"|2017 !! DAL ! style="text-align:center;"|2018 !! DAL ! style="text-align:center;"|2019 !! DAL ! style="text-align:center;"|2020 !! DAL ! style="text-align:center;"|2021 !! DAL ! style="text-align:center;"|2022 !! DAL ! style="text-align:center;"|2023 !! HOU ! colspan="2"| Career || 76 || 25 || 195 || 115 || 1,547 || 13.5 || 20.4 || 5
 * 13 || 1 || 9 || 4 || 33 || 8.3 || 2.5 || 0
 * 8 || 2 || 8 || 5 || 54 || 10.8 || 6.8 || 0
 * colspan="8"|Did not play – PUP list / surgery
 * 16 || 1 || 24 || 14 || 154 || 11.0 || 9.6 || 0
 * 13 || 1 || 25 || 16 || 184 || 11.5 || 14.2 || 0
 * 16 || 13 || 74 || 43 || 555 || 12.9 || 34.7 || 3
 * 10 || 7 || 55 || 33 || 567 || 17.2 || 56.7 || 2
 * }

Postseason
! style="text-align:center;"|2018 !! DAL ! style="text-align:center;"|2021 !! DAL ! style="text-align:center;"|2022 !! DAL ! style="text-align:center;"|2023 !! HOU ! colspan="2"| Career || 6 || 1 || 10 || 6 || 58 || 9.7 || 9.7 || 0
 * 2 || 0 || 5 || 2 || 19 || 9.5 || 9.5 || 0
 * 1 || 0 || 0 || 0 || 0 || 0.0 || 0.0 || 0
 * 2 || 0 || 4 || 4 || 39 || 9.8 || 19.5 || 0
 * 1 || 1 || 1 || 0 || 0 || 0.0 || 0.0 || 0
 * }