Mar 30, 2026
FILE – Former Vikings safety Joey Browner receives the ring of honor by Zygi Wilf, the majority owner of the team, during the halftime of an NFL football game between the Minnesota Vikings and the Green Bay Packers, Oct. 27, 2013, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Jim Mone, File)
Warren football icon Joey Browner, a three-time All-Pro defensive back who played nine of his 10 NFL seasons with the Minnesota Vikings, has died, the team said. He was 65.
The Vikings announced Browner’s death Sunday and said his family had informed the team. A cause of death was not released.
The former Warren Western Reserve star was part of a legendary football family, alongside older brothers Jim and Ross and younger brother Keith. Ross Browner was an edge rusher who played 10 NFL seasons, nine with Cincinnati, while Jim Browner was a defensive back for Cincinnati in 1979 and 1980.
Keith Browner, Sr. played 65 NFL games for four teams. A nephew, Keith Browner Jr., appeared in three games as an edge rusher for the Houston Texans in 2014. Two other brothers, Willard and Gerald Browner also played college football at Notre Dame and Georgia, respectively.
“It was a great place to grow up,” Ross Browner told the Tribune Chronicle in 2016 about the brothers’ upbringing in Warren. “One thing about it was our parents always wanted us to stay off the streets and not be in gangs and all that type of thing. [They wanted us] to learn a trade or something that was going to be positive in life, and sports really turned out to be one of those positive things in our life.”
Joey Browner played college football at Southern California. He was then selected by Minnesota with the 19th overall pick in the 1983 NFL draft. It was the first time the Vikings had used a first-round pick on a defensive back.
Blessed with a combination of speed and size for his position — he was 6-foot-2 and 221 pounds — Joey Browner played for the Vikings from 1983-91 and finished his career with 37 interceptions, the fifth most in franchise history. He also had 18 forced fumbles in 138 games for Minnesota.
Joey Browner concluded his career by playing for Tampa Bay in 1992.
He made the first of six consecutive Pro Bowl appearances in 1985, and he was a first-team AP All-Pro in 1987, 1988 and 1990.
In the strike-shortened 1987 season, Joey Browner helped the Vikings advance to the NFC championship game, which they lost to eventual Super Bowl champion Washington.
In 2013, he was inducted into the Vikings’ ring of honor.
“Joey was one of those players that could transcend any generation of player,” former Vikings linebacker Scott Studwell said at the time. “He could’ve played today. When he played, he was one of the best at his position.”
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