At one point during the discussion, Brownson passed along the advice she received from her longtime mentor, former NFL executive Charley Casserly.
“What can I do today to help us win?” Brownson said. “Ask yourself that every morning, how can I go above and beyond, maybe even take on a new task, maybe improve something we’ve been doing for a while that could use improvement. Constantly evaluating and auditing the system to find out how can I help us get better every day.”
Brownson’s done just that throughout a coaching career that began at the high school level and included a stint at Dartmouth College before she landed her first NFL opportunity with the Bills in 2019. This past season, Brownson became the first woman to serve as an acting gameday position coach when she filled in for TEs coach Drew Petzing — who stayed home for the birth of his first child — for the Browns’ Week 12 victory over the Jaguars. Brownson also led the team’s wide receivers for the Browns’ playoff-clinching victory over the Steelers in Week 17, filling in for Chad O’Shea, and was back with the tight ends for Cleveland’s Wild Card victory over the Steelers, when Petzing and a number of other Cleveland assistants were sidelined because of positive COVID-19 tests.
Since 2017, the forum — which is typically held in Indianapolis during the NFL Combine but is virtual this year because of the COVID-19 pandemic — has helped develop a more diverse talent pipeline for the NFL and other football organizations. It’s helped pave the way for 118 opportunities for women over the past four years, according to the NFL, and has continued to grow with more and more teams getting involved.