As a senior, he focused on playing the "standup" left defensive end position and contributed to the team winning the Southwest Conference championship.
Brown was selected by the Dallas Cowboys in the fourth round (108th overall) of the 1977 NFL draft, who saw him as an above average athlete and wanted to play him at outside linebacker.
In 1980, he had a chance to earn the starting strongside linebacker job after Thomas "Hollywood" Henderson was waived, but was passed over by Mike Hegman.
In 1981, Hegman fractured his arm in the season opener, giving Brown the chance to start six games at strongside linebacker.
[6] Brown was one of the plaintiffs in a class action lawsuit against the National Football League, alleging that it failed to adequately respond to the serious health risks posed by concussions and other repeated head traumas suffered during games.