"My body feels amazing. I'm in tremendous shape, great football shape," Brown says. "I would tell you, too, all of (2024) was great. But I'm even better now than I was last year. I'm just looking forward to a healthy year. Taking the next step as a player, as a leader, as a teammate, and hopefully we're able to do that as a team as well."
Brown thinks they can after watching those '88 Super Bowl Bengals. He caught them on "America's Game," a series on NFL Films that featured great teams with "Missing Rings," and is almost 20 years old. But it's as fresh as training camp grass. Joe Burrow's Bengals also have a Missing Ring, and Brown thinks they can find it.
"I do. I do. I think we've got the hardest piece of the puzzle, which is our quarterback," Brown says. "And we've got some other guys that are willing to lay it on the line, man. So I feel like everything is in play. To me, one of the most important parts of winning the championship is having that camaraderie as a team, that togetherness. The willingness to hold each other accountable. And I feel like we've got all of those things. It's the closest we've been as a team in the (three years) I've been here."
Brown admits he's not a Netflix guy. No _Quarterback_ for him yet this summer. He dreams to the drums of NFL Films.
In order to get ready for camp, he's been watching documentaries of great workout artists like Barry Sanders and Walter Payton. He enjoyed watching how the offensive line set the table for Dallas' back-to-back Super Bowl titles on a dive into the 1992 Cowboys. To tune for the AFC North slugfests, he also rewound some Ravens-Steelers replays.
"I watch a lot of NFL Films year-round. But I will tell you, it amplifies a little bit more during this time of year," Brown says. "Just as I get my mind into the course of a season, and the length of a season."
Now he knows the '88 story like a native Cincinnatian.
"I thought it was really special, the connection that the team shared," Brown says. "How they all rolled behind Boomer Esiason's and Tim Krumrie's leadership. How vocal they were. How they lived by actions. You could tell that it was all very important to them, which is one of the reasons they were able to put themselves in such a great position."
How could he not miss the Pro Football Hall of Famer playing his position?
"I think the biggest thing in terms of Anthony Munoz's game that during that time was so unique was the combination that you see a lot of tackles have now," Brown says. "In terms of athleticism, the length, the ability to play in space. Win with your hands, win with your body. In my opinion, Anthony Munoz is the first of the modern-day tackles. The 6-8, 300-pound guy who could move like a cat and was able to be extremely physical."