For Derrick Brown, taking a few snaps off is with the long haul in mind

Fortunately, all of this has been communicated in advance, because Derrick Brown is not a man who likes to be surprised.

“No, he’s never receptive to playing less, but sometimes the program has to protect them from themselves,” defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero said. “Derrick’s great. He’s a team guy. He certainly never wants to come off the field, but he understands the importance of that management, and we’re playing a long game. And we certainly want to, not just Derrick, but all of the players, you know, I think Josh and Denny and their staff, they’re doing a really good job of just making sure that we’re all educated in terms of the workloads, not only in the short term, but also how those things are going to affect over the course of the year.

“And, so we’re just trying to be mindful of those things and put our guys in position not only for success in the short term but also later in the season.”