"He competes and I feel comfortable with him when he's out there," General Manager Brian Gutekunst said. "He loves to play football and he hasn't really backed down from any challenges since he's been here."

That includes challenges of his own making, as Brown's tenure in Green Bay got off to a rocky start last year. The Packers signed him to their practice squad in Week 1 after he didn't make the Chargers' roster as a college free agent, elevated him to the active roster by the end of September, and thrust him into action on defense at Detroit in Week 5.

But after breaking up a third-down pass to the Lions' Kenny Golladay in the third quarter with the Packers on the comeback trail, Brown was flagged for taunting along the Detroit sideline.

The following week he committed another personal foul, for unnecessary roughness, on a San Francisco kickoff return, giving the 49ers prime field position late in the fourth quarter of a tie game.

At that point, it would have been easy as well as understandable for the Packers to cut their losses and move on. But they didn't, believing in the athleticism and talent Brown possessed as a top-ranked national recruit who played 51 games for Alabama and piled up a bunch of track honors for the Crimson Tide in the offseasons.

Asked this week about those untimely, aggravating penalties, Brown said he never really felt in danger of getting cut. The coaching staff took him at his word that the taunting wouldn't be an issue again, and he said the film showed the flag against the 49ers was thrown in error.

"With those situations, I was blessed enough to be able to be retained here, to stay here," Brown said. "Just learn from them."

From there, Brown recovered from a minor hip injury to post 30 tackles, four pass breakups and two forced fumbles over the second half of the season. He started three of the final four games and also finished the year with six coverage tackles on special teams.

Through a full offseason in Green Bay this spring, progress has been evident. Working for a second straight year in Pettine's system has been a huge plus, but he's also gained an edge mentally from his experience as a rookie.

The phrase "slowing the game down" is used a lot by young players. In Brown's case, he's accomplished that by reducing what he's thinking about and processing on any given snap, so he can react faster and put himself in better positions.

"If you ask any DB that's been in the league for a while, when you're younger, you try to cover all the routes in the route tree when you're out there," Brown said. "But guys are so skilled, it's impossible to cover somebody who's just as fast or maybe faster and quicker than you and to think you're going to cover the entire route tree.