"No trick questions," Pharaoh Brown said with a smile to reporters inside the media tent after Monday's practice.
It was his first NFL press conference and Brown was enjoying all of it.
After five seasons with three teams and a staggering nine different head coaches since 2017, Brown's journey to this press conference has been a winding one.
"My first three years, I've been in the league five years but I really only count two because I wasn't playing," Brown said. "I was more playing politics my first two years and I was behind guys that was getting $10 million plus each year. So nothing I would do, I wasn't getting an opportunity to play on the field initially because the Texans didn't have a guy at my position that was getting that. I knew I would be able to get my fair shot and I bet on myself and I was right. I'm finally getting my opportunity."
Brown is still ramping up in training camp after being activated off the Active/Non-Football Injury list on August 3. He says he is still dealing with lingering side effects from the COVID-19 vaccine.
However, Brown is finding some stability with the Texans. He is one of a small number of roster players from 2020 that is returning this season and his quarterback is a familiar face in Tyrod Taylor. The two were teammates in Cleveland during the 2018 season.
""Tyrod is great," Brown said. "Me and Tyrod was in Cleveland together for a whole year, so as soon as he signed here, I was happy. Called him and talked to him. He actually was my practice squad quarterback the whole year so I'm used to Tyrod. It's like a stroll in the park for me with Tyrod."
Undrafted in 2017, Brown spent time on the Raiders and Browns practice squads for his first two seasons. In 2020, Brown signed with the Texans after being waived by Cleveland on September 6. He saw his first game action as a Texan in Week 3 at Pittsburgh and started his first game in Week 4 against the Vikings.
Brown got up to speed with the offense quickly, and stepped in for Jordan Akins after a helmet-to-helmet hit kept him out for three games.
"I was comfortable last year," Brown said. "It's not more of my comfort, it's more of the coaches' comfort. Last year I came week four, so it was just a guy off the street, they didn't know me. So I think they have become more comfortable with me."
Brown went on to see action in 13 games with 9 starts, and set career highs in receptions (14), receiving yards (163) and receiving touchdowns (two).
"I've been prepared each year like I knew I was a starter, I believed I was a starter and I believed I could play in this league and it was just a matter of opportunity," Brown said. "Just preparation -- opportunity is finally meeting preparation and that's why I'm confident and that's why when I got out there last year, you know what I mean, it was just like, stepping into it, you know what I mean."
