Ex-Lions LB reflects on life-altering injury after Jack Campbell hospitalized - USA Today

Reggie Brown, the former linebacker for the Detroit Lions, said he will visit a psychologist at 12:15 p.m. Tuesday near his home in Houston, as he has every other week for the last 15 years

He said he used to wonder why he was angry before he started therapy. Then he learned he was clinically depressed. Then he began taking medication, developing more coping mechanicsms and exploring the effects of a spinal-cord injury that Brown suffered during a Lions game in 1997.

But the injury altered it ... and ended his football career at 23.

“I used to be Superman, but now I wear Kryptonite all around,’’ Brown told USA TODAY Sports. “You know, it's a struggle getting out of the bed, but once I get going and make it to the shower …

“I had my days where I can go to some dark corners in my mind. But I have a wife, kids, some real positive things. Kind of just got to go through those emotions and still seek out those things I'm grateful for.”

Brown, 52, reflected on his experience during an interview with USA TODAY Sports Monday, Nov. 2, after learning Lions linebacker Jack Campbell suffered a neck injury that left him hospitalized.

“I'll be praying for him,’’ Brown said.

Lions head coach Dan Campbell on Monday told reporters he could provide no specifics about Jack Campbell’s condition. But he did say “it’s positive’’ and “it’s a small setback.’’

But for Brown, the injury has led to almost three decades of recovery and struggle. He said that includes two neck surgeries.

"So now I'm up to a total of six screws a titanium plate in my neck,'' he said.

Brown said he wasn’t watching the Lions game during Jack Campbell’s injury on the first play of the fourth quarter.

“I couldn't tell you the last time I watched the entire game,’’ he said. “But, you know, I'll leave it on for a little while.’’

The last time Brown attended a Lions game was 2007, when his brother Michael was a safety for the New York Giants during a game against the Lions.

He also said he was invited back last season before a ‘’homecoming game,’’ when the New York Jets played the Lions Sept. 28, 2026.

“And I've been wanting to go,’’ Brown said. “Somebody reached out to me, said I kind of need to go.’’

But Brown said he and Jets head coach Aaron Glenn played together at Texas A&M, and that Glenn was on the field when Brown suffered the spinal-cord injury in 1997. And it turned out the Jets-Lions game was on Brown’s birthday.

He stayed in Houston rather than go to the game.

“Yeah, too many coincidences,’’ Brown said. “…Maybe I'll go next year.’’

But Brown expresses no bitterness toward football and never tried to hold his two sons back.

His oldest son, Reggie Brown Jr. played tight end at Tulane from 2020 to 2024. His youngest son, Mike, is a freshman wide receiver at Texas A&M.  

The Lions gave Brown a chance to stay in football as more than a father. The job entailed scouting.

“But I just didn't really enjoy it,’’ he said. “A lot of travel. I just wasn't ready probably at that point. I think I was sort of fresh off of injury, Still high emotions and you know I just wasn't mentally prepared at that point.’’

So he accepted an offer from the Lions to join the Ford Motor Company’s Dealership Training Program. He said he completed the two-year program and stayed on for about six more years.

On Monday, Brown was at Legacy the School of Sport Sciences, the charter school in Spring, Texas, started in 2018 by his wife, Kerrie Patterson-Brown.

Reggie and Kerrie were college sweethearts, having met at Texas A&M when Reggie was playing football and Kerrie was playing basketball.

They still were dating after the Lions drafted Brown in the first round. In fact, Kerrie was flying to Detroit visit Brown on Dec. 21, 1997, the day Brown suffered his career-ending injury during which he stopped breathing before CPR was administered.

“I was supposed to pick (Kerrie) up after the game at the airport,’’ Brown said. “Obviously I didn't show.’’

Brown delivered the line with what sounded like a hint of mirth.

He talked about the limitations he had in moving his neck and the pain in his back that flares up during travel.

“I wouldn't know what a normal 52-year-old would feel like, but I know they don't feel like the way I feel every day,’’ Brown said.

On Monday, Brown said, he’d been at charter school for about five or six hours. “But I've been kind of in my wife's office the entire day. So I don't do a lot of walking around.’’

But Brown chuckled more than a few times during the phone call.

“You know,’’ he said, “you caught me on a pretty good day.’’

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