He played college football for the Penn State Nittany Lions, earning consensus All-American honors in 1999.
Brown is often listed as a draft bust, noted among others such as Justin Gilbert, Johnny Manziel and Trent Richardson, all of them selected by Cleveland.
He finished his college football career with an NCAA record-breaking 33 quarterback sacks and 70 tackles for a loss.
His second season was cut short due to injury, but Brown recorded 4.5 sacks in five games.
The Broncos that season finished 13–3, and in the playoffs, defeated the defending back-to-back Super Bowl champion New England Patriots, led by fellow 2000 draftee Tom Brady, before losing to the eventual Super Bowl champion Pittsburgh Steelers in the AFC Championship Game.