After graduation from high school, he was selected by the Montreal Expos in the seventh round of the 1989 MLB Draft, but he instead decided to pursue playing football and baseball at the University of Louisville.

After spending his freshman season as a backup quarterback, he was once again selected in the MLB Draft, this time in the fourth round by the Cleveland Indians.

This time Brohm had a change of heart and decided to pursue a professional baseball career in the summers when he wasn't playing football.

[17] After a 7–1 start, the Cardinals accepted a bid to be the home team in the 1993 Liberty Bowl[18] Brohm broke the index finger of his passing hand in Louisville's final regular season game.

[19] Trailing 7–3 going into the 4th quarter against the Michigan State in the Liberty Bowl, Brohm threw for two touchdowns in the final minute leading the Cardinals to an 18–7 victory.

[26] Brohm spent the season as the third-string quarterback never appearing in a game as the Chargers lost Super Bowl XXIX.

Brohm was in line to start Week 2 for the 49ers, but he cracked a bone near the base of his middle finger on his passing hand.

[28] Brohm signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 1998, competing with Steve Walsh and Scott Milanovich for the backup quarterback position behind Trent Dilfer.

[34] On December 13, 2000, Brohm was signed by the Cleveland Browns to be the emergency third-string quarterback with one week remaining in the season.

[37] Brohm won the starting job, and led the Rage to a season opening win 33–29 over the Chicago Enforcers.

[39] He was at the receiving end of a particularly brutal attempted sack by Shante Carver in the Week 5 contest against the Memphis Maniax; although it knocked Brohm out of the game and led to a hospital visit, the actual play resulted in a touchdown pass, and Brohm was back on the sidelines in a neck brace later in the game.

[40] A shoulder injury in the Week 7 contest against the Los Angeles Xtreme ended Brohm's playing career.

[41][42] Brohm was, along with Las Vegas Outlaws running back Rod Smart, one of the few players to openly embrace the XFL's approach to football, fully immersing himself in the kayfabe and sports entertainment.

[45] Brohm worked with first-year starting quarterback Stefan LeFors,[46] helping him to a 3,145-yard passing season, the third-best in school history.

[63] Brohm inherited Rusty Smith, who had won the 2007 Sun Belt Conference Offensive Player of the Year, to coach.

Brohm and Petrino were tasked with replacing Juice Williams, and in spring camp Nathan Scheelhaase emerged as the leading candidate.

[74] Scheelhaase got the Illini off to a hot start going 6–0, even defeating #22 Arizona State and Brohm had acknowledged his development as a passer.

[78] The offseason began with redshirt freshman quarterback Austin Brown pushing Jonathan Perry for the starting role.

[88] On January 8, 2014, Petrino was hired to his former position of head coach at Louisville in place of Charlie Strong, who moved to replace Mack Brown at Texas.

The team broke school records for total yards in a game (702) and most points scored since moving to the FBS level.

This included a win over undefeated #19 Marshall 67–66 in overtime, again breaking the school record for points in an FBS game for the third time of the season.

[95] Leading 49–14 heading into the fourth quarter, the Chippewas rallied to be down 1-point, but their failed two-point conversion with no time left led to a Hilltoppers victory.

[98] On September 3, 2015, Brohm won his first game as head coach against an SEC opponent, a 14–12 road win against Vanderbilt.

[105] He finished his second season as the Hilltoppers' head coach with a 12–2 record, with losses against Indiana and LSU, and a victory in the 2015 Miami Beach Bowl over South Florida, 45–35.

[123] Heading into week 8, Jeff Brohm and his team went into High Point Solutions Stadium[124] to face Rutgers as they looked to improve 4–3 on the season, but fell short on a two-point conversion, losing the game 12–14.

Before the bowl game, there was much speculation surrounding Jeff Brohm around the head coaching vacancy at Tennessee, some sources even saying that he had accepted the job.

The following week Brohm was scheduled to take on Wisconsin, but the game was canceled due to a high number of Badger players testing positive for the COVID-19 virus.

Following Iowa's loss to Nebraska on November 25, Purdue had an opportunity to clinch the Big Ten West by beating Indiana.

[138] Brohm's younger brother, Brian, is a football coach and a former quarterback who last played for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.

Another brother, Greg, played wide receiver at Louisville and had a stint in the Canadian Football League at the Edmonton Eskimos camp before being cut.