Saints cornerback Brandon Browner leads the league in penalties, and it’s not close.
Browner has been flagged 21 times this season, for a total of 198 penalty yards, according to ESPN. Since at least 2001, no NFL player has ever been flagged for that many penalties in an entire season -- and Browner still has four more games to go. No other NFL player this season has even been flagged 15 times or cost his team 120 penalty yards. When it comes to committing penalties in the NFL, there’s Brandon Browner and there’s everyone else.
Browner has always been known as a physical cornerback, so it should come as no surprise that his most frequent penalty is defensive holding, which he’s been flagged for 10 times. He’s also picked up three pass interference penalties and three facemasking penalties.
Since playing in his first NFL regular-season game in 2011, Browner has been flagged for 69 penalties and 597 penalty yards in just 57 games, by far the most of any NFL player over the last five years -- even though he has missed 19 games. Whether he’s been playing in Seattle, in New England or in New Orleans, Browner continues committing penalties at a stunning rate.