Looking back at some of the greatest players the Denver Broncos ever had to go against, Tim Brown was certainly among them.
In a potential free-agent deal that is often forgotten or perhaps totally unknown, the Hall-of-Fame wide receiver nearly became a member of the Broncos over 25 years ago.
Brown was a force for the rival Raiders for many years and is easily one of the best players in their franchise history. Though many Broncos fans may not agree, it was hard to dislike him as well.
The Broncos got tired of going up against him and decided that they wanted to make a move to bring him to Denver. Though that never came to fruition, one has to wonder what it would have done for the team and what it would have done to the Raiders.
Who was Tim Brown?
Brown was chosen with the No. 6 overall pick by the Raiders in the 1988 draft. Fresh off winning the Heisman Trophy at Notre Dame, he fit the mold of a player that Al Davis would want on his team. Speedy and able to do other things than just be a receiver such as return kicks, Brown was the total package.
But Brown’s career as a receiver started out slowly. He was almost instantly the game’s most dangerous return man, but it seemed that would be the way he would make his living, as more of a gimmicky kind of player than a No. 1 receiver. From 1988-1992, he never caught more than 49 passes in a season.
That all changed in 1993.
That season, Brown caught 80 passes, a franchise record for a single season at the time, and led the AFC with 1,180 yards receiving. He was on his way to becoming one of the top five receivers in the league, and everyone knew it.
The Broncos decided to take a shot at stealing him away.