Watch Tower: ESPN Poaches Scott Brown from The Tribune Review

In depth coverage of individual NFL teams has long been the province of the big daily newspapers, a tendency that shows little trend of breaking as the internet reaches its second decade.

• ESPN, however, has never been shy about its ambition to break that trend.

Over the last several years, ESPN has been launching its own mini-sites directed at individual cities. ESPN Chicago, ESPN New England, ESPN New York etc….

Back in 2009 or so ESPN made a run at the Gerry Dulac and Ed Bouchette of the Post Gazette. At the time Dulac alluded to this in an on-line chat, and later Ed Bouchette was quite explicit.

• ESPN didn’t get Bouchette or Dulac, but they did get the Tribune Review’s Scott Brown.

Scott Brown joined the Tribune Review in 2006 and covered the Steelers as their main beat writer until 2012, when Allen Robinson took up those chores and Brown departed to cover Penn State – although the move was apparently one that Brown requested.

• Either way, Brown now has a bigger stage to show his talents.

While Brown was the junior man on the Steelers beat, the Watch Tower noted several times when he out hustled Ed Bouchette. Two that quickly come to mind are:

• Taking Stefan Logan’s chances to make the team seriously early in 2009 training camp when Bouchette wrote him off without a second thought
• Informing readers that it was Flozell Adams who approached the Steelers and not the other way around in 2011 after Willie Colon's injury

Scott Brown’s duties covering the Steelers will begin tonight, with his preview of the Steelers-Redskins game.

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