by - Kansas City Chiefs offensive tackle Orlando Brown has one of the most important jobs in all of football: protecting Patrick Mahomes.
- Brown’s lucky charm, a fox tail, is always there when he needs a little extra.
- Brown bought one off eBay inspired by the ’80s breakdancing movement “Breakin'”.
PHOENIX – Kansas City Chiefs offensive tackle Orlando Brown has one of the most important jobs in the NFL.
As the Chiefs’ left tackle, Brown is tasked with protecting Patrick Mahomes’ blind side, ensuring the NFL’s most talented quarterback can stay on his feet long enough to work magic.
Brown is very strong and can stop many defenders through sheer force of will. But he doesn’t hesitate to ask for a little extra help. In fact, when he’s not on the field, Brown puts his trust in a lucky foxtail, a totem that follows him almost everywhere.
“I got this off eBay. 2013. Four bucks,” Brown told Insider in the week leading up to Super Bowl LVII. “I was the highest bidder.”
“I wear it all the time. Except when I’m in the field.”
The casual use of “all the time” could mean a lot of things, but Brown really means it, saying that he even uses it around the house in times of relaxation. “I started using it as a freshman in college and it kind of stuck with me,” Brown said. “I’ve been wearing a foxtail basically my entire career.”
Despite initial thoughts that Brown might be exaggerating at least a little bit, a perfunctory scroll on his Instagram makes it clear: he trusts his lucky fox tail.
“It’s a long story,” Brown told Insider when asked to elaborate.
We had time. Worth it.
The heartfelt story goes back to the relationship Brown developed with former NFL player Jamaal Brown.
“I lost my dad when I was 15, and Jamaal Brown came into my life just before that, and then our relationship kind of grew and got bigger when (my dad) passed away,” Brown said. “So in the summer, I’d go there in the months of May and summer break to train, and we’d watch old movies every Saturday. There was an older movie called Breakin’ and it came out in the ’80s.”
“And there was this Ozone guy and he had a fox tail on his hat and his pants, everywhere, and I thought it was really cool. I looked it up and it was $5, so I bought it.”
“Breakin'” is clearly an ’80s hit. Ozone’s foxtail can be seen at the 30-second mark of the trailer.
Brown decided to adopt Ozone’s system – and it worked.
“I started using it freshman year of college,” Brown told Insider. “I used it after our first summer break. You know we have that break after May, and I used it when we got back in June. I ended up getting the starting job in college. I ended up being the first All-American. I was dating a girl really hot. And man, life was good. So I’ve been using it ever since.”
“I have about 12 different ones that I’ve been using since 2015.”
Brown won’t be wearing his fox tail on the field to take on the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl LVII, but rest assured he’ll be close after the game.
