After spending five seasons with the Cardinals, Brown caught his first touchdown as a member of the Seahawks last week. He'll look to build on that performance in his return to Arizona on Sunday.
Doug Baldwin is back.
So is Jaron Brown.
Though, it should be noted that the Seahawks wide receivers are back in different ways.
Baldwin — the team’s eighth-year standout and receptions leader in each of the last four seasons — will return to the field Sunday after missing the last two games with a sprained right MCL.
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Brown, meanwhile, will return to the place where his career began.
After going undrafted out of Clemson in 2013, the 6-foot-3, 204-pound wide receiver carved out a role in Arizona. In five seasons with the Cardinals, he caught 92 passes for 1,245 yards and 10 touchdowns. His crescendo came in 2017, when Brown delivered career-highs in catches (31), receiving yards (477) and touchdowns (4).
Granted, he was never Larry Fitzgerald. But that doesn’t mean he didn’t learn from the future first-ballot Hall of Famer.
“Fitz was my guy,” the first-year Seahawk said this week. “He taught me how to be a pro, how to take care of my body off the field as well as some techniques, (how to) get off press and some techniques for catching the ball. He taught me a lot.”
Fitzgerald taught him enough to warrant the Seahawks signing Brown to a two-year deal this offseason. Though he has yet to make a consistent impact, Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said the sixth-year wideout made an immediate impression this offseason.
“From the first week he was with us, he just seemed to have a handle on what it takes and what’s important and how you do the job and how you work,” Carroll said. “His background, his habits, his makeup all just show that he is a pro. That’s kind of how we talk about him — he’s a real pro. He just gets it.
“He’s never wavered; he’s just been on that the whole time. His performance has followed. His availability for all of the things we’ve asked him to do at receiver and also in special teams has followed.”
And, finally, his production followed, too. After registering just four catches for 43 yards in his first two games, Brown got open up the seam for his first Seahawk touchdown last Sunday. After taking a shot from a late-arriving safety, Brown flipped the football into the air and raised his arms above his head.
“Amazing. Amazing,” Brown said with a grin this week, when asked to describe that moment. “The 12s really bring the energy, so I was definitely feeling it.”
He’ll be feeling a lot more this weekend, when the veteran wide receiver returns to State Farm Stadium for the first time as a Seahawk.
Carroll even sat Brown down this week to discuss his mindset heading into a homecoming in the Arizona heat.
“(We were) just recognizing that there’s a conversation to have, to say, ‘OK, I’ve got to be level-headed about this and make sure that he’s clear-headed about it and doesn’t let the emotion of wanting to make all the plays and make the statements (go to his head),’ ” Carroll said.
“It just comes natural to all of us when we have those kinds of opportunities. You’ve just got to just touch base on it. The fact that we did, he’s going, ‘OK, yeah, yeah, yeah, I’m going to be OK.’ I’m going to watch him all the way through the process too, because sometimes it gets really hard.”
Of course, you wouldn’t know that from talking to Brown, who shrugged off any added significance regarding his return to Arizona.
“Obviously I still have that history to have been there for a pretty long time, so I know the players pretty well and some of the coaches,” Brown said. “But I don’t think it’s going to be a big emotional day. At the end of the day it’s another game.”
It’s also a potentially winnable game for the 1-2 Seahawks, who hope to prey on an 0-3 team with a first-time starting quarterback in rookie Josh Rosen. It certainly won’t hurt to have Baldwin back, either.
Add Baldwin to Brown, Brandon Marshall and streaky speedster Tyler Lockett, who has snatched a touchdown in each of his first three games, and suddenly the Seahawks tout a formidable tandem at wide receiver.
“Doug’s our leader,” Brown said. “He’s a great leader and an extraordinary player. So with him back, it’s only going to make us better.”