On December 3, 2023, at Nissan Stadium in Nashville, Tennessee, during an NFL game versus the Tennessee Titans, Indianapolis Colts corner back Tony Brown celebrates with teammates following a blocked punt.
Wide receiver Isaiah McKenzie and cornerback Tony Brown have been suspended by the Indianapolis Colts for three games “for conduct detrimental to the team.”
The NFL team said in a release on personnel transactions on Tuesday afternoon that the former Alabama defensive back and McKenzie had been placed off the active roster to reserve/suspended status in a single sentence. The group did not go into detail about the players’ actions that led to their suspension.
The players will miss the rest of the regular season due to their suspensions. The Colts play their final home games of the season on December 31 against the Las Vegas Raiders and January 7 against the Houston Texans. They travel to the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday.
NFL franchises suspending players for multiple games is not common. The NFL more frequently imposes suspensions of that kind in response to infractions of its Personal Conduct Policy, Program and Policy on Substances of Abuse, or Policy on Performance-Enhancing Substances.
Brown participated in all 13 of Indianapolis’ preseason games, but he was a healthy scratch in the team’s 30-13 victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers on Saturday.
In the 2023 season, Brown played 252 special teams plays and 56 defensive snaps. He played every defensive snap (except from one) during the Colts’ Oct. 29 38-27 loss to the New Orleans Saints.
On December 3, Brown stopped a punt in the Tennessee Titans’ 31-28 overtime victory.
Following a successful comeback season with the Colts in 2022 (during which he played 303 special teams plays), Brown re-signed with the organization in the offseason.
At Alabama, Brown was a member of two CFP national championship teams. In his final game as a Crimson Tide player, an overtime 26-23 victory over Georgia in the 2017 season national title game, Brown recorded an interception.
As an undrafted rookie in 2018, Brown attended the Los Angeles Chargers’ training camp. Brown joined the practice squad of the Green Bay Packers following his release by the Chargers at the conclusion of the preseason. In the fourth week of the 2018 season, he was added to the active roster.
In 11 games, Brown played 287 defensive snaps for Green Bay and finished with 34 tackles, five pass breakups, two forced fumbles, and a tackle for loss. Since then, Brown has participated in 50 NFL regular-season games and 207 defensive snaps.
In 2019, Brown made nine appearances for Green Bay. In addition to missing two games in October due to a hamstring injury, he did not play after November 24. Brown spent the first three weeks of December listed as having a heel issue on the Packers’ injury report.
Green Bay waived Brown the day before their final regular-season game, and the Bengals claimed him off waivers on December 30, 2019.
In 2020, Brown participated in 13 games with Cincinnati. On November 15, 2020, in a 36-10 defeat to the Pittsburgh Steelers, Brown had nine tackles, including two behind the line of scrimmage, and broke up a pass in his lone start of the season.
After the 2021 preseason, Brown did not make the cut to the regular-season roster limit and was placed on the practice squads of the Bengals and Las Vegas Raiders, but he did not play in a regular-season game that year.
In 2022, Brown opted to join with the Colts. He was not on the active roster when the 2022 season began; instead, he was on the practice squad.
