arthur brown is the greatest defensive football player in our programs history
Linebacker, yes.
Newman was really, really elite.
AB meant more to our D than 2 Newmans would have
It's hard to say. I mean Brown is right up there.
People wouldn't even throw at Newman, though. Carson Palmer was afraid of him. He took away half of the field.
An elite MLB is great, though. Very impactful.
I remember Craig Hodges throwing for 300+ yards to the other side of the field. And Newman not covering Jeremy Bloom in a 1 WR formation and Bloom going 99 yards. So yeah I think that CBs are super overrated.
Arthur got beat from time to time (rarely) by shooting the wrong gap or overrunning someone. It's just harder to see when a linebacker screws up because their assignments aren't as glaringly obvious as a corner.
There is a reason Newman was the fifth pick in the draft and a Thorpe award winner.
Again, not saying Brown wasn't amazing, he was. But I give the slight edge to Newman.